Paul v. Jackson

910 S.W.2d 286, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1587, 1995 WL 550096
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 19, 1995
DocketNos. WD 49730, 49744
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 910 S.W.2d 286 (Paul v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paul v. Jackson, 910 S.W.2d 286, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1587, 1995 WL 550096 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Presiding Judge.

The Pauls and Jacksons own adjoining lots which front on the Lake of the Ozarks. The Pauls brought suit against the Jacksons, alleging that a boat dock constructed by the Jacksons on the lake interfered with the •Pauls’ property rights and that the dock constituted a private nuisance. The trial court entered judgment in favor of the Pauls. The Jacksons appeal, claiming that the trial court lacked jurisdiction due to preemption and that the Pauls failed to show that the Jacksons’ actions impaired any substantial property rights of the Pauls. We affirm the trial court’s holding that preemption does not apply and that the Jacksons’ dock was a nuisance because it violated the Pauls’ property rights.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Jacksons and the Pauls own adjoining lots in Miller County, Missouri. The lots front on the Lake of the Ozarks. The Jack-sons’ property is located in the end of a fairly narrow horseshoe-shaped cove. The Pauls’ property is its neighboring property along the lake front to the southwest.

The Lake of the Ozarks is a manmade, privately owned lake. Prior to its formation, the land on which the Pauls’ and Jacksons’ lots are located was part of a larger parcel of land acquired by Union Electric Land and Development Company (Land Company). Land Company acquired these lots by voluntary conveyance from various property owners rather than by condemnation. Land Company conveyed the portion of this land below the contour elevation of 662 feet to Union Electric Light and Power Company (Union Electric),1 but retained an easement:

to use the surface of said lands, whether submerged or not, for any and all purposes whatsoever, including the erection and maintenance of improvements thereon, provided such use will in no way interfere with the construction, operation and maintenance by Union Electric Light and Pow[288]*288er Company, its successors or assigns, of the said dam.

Land Company did not convey the portion of the land which was above the 662 feet contour elevation to Union Electric. Rather, it initially retained this upper portion in its own name. Later, it conveyed this upper portion of the land, along with an appurtenant easement for use of the surface of the contiguous land below the 662 feet contour elevation, to various private owners. The subsequent chain of title of one portion of that land eventually led to ownership of the end lot of the cove in question with its appurtenant below-the-lake easement by the Jack-sons and of the neighboring lot to the southwest and appurtenant easement by the Pauls.

Union Electric Company has a license under Part I of the Federal Power Act (the Act) from the.Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to operate Project No. 459 upon the Osage River in Benton, Camden, Miller and Morgan Counties. This project essentially permits Union Electric to operate Bagnell Dam which creates the Lake of the Ozarks. Pursuant to its license, among many other duties, Union Electric reviews applications for and grants or denies boat dock permits for persons owning property adjoining the Lake of the Ozarks.

The authority of Union Electric to regulate boat docks derives from the license issued by FERC on April 9, 1981. All parties to this action acknowledge that Union Electric has the authority under the provisions of the license from FERC to issue or deny boat dock permits on the Lake of the Ozarks.

Various states and authorizing authorities use different methods to determine whether a boat dock should be permitted to be built. One of the key criteria used by Union Electric in reviewing permits is that the dock “needs to be within the applicant’s property lines extended lakeward.” This rule is intended to avoid the situation in which a dock is moored on what was the landowner’s property.but extends out into the lake at an angle or to such a length that it goes beyond the owner’s easement appurtenant to his or her own property lines extended lakeward and over the easement of his or her neighbor as measured by the neighbor’s property lines extended lakeward.

The Pauls originally obtained a dock permit in November, 1982.2 The Pauls’ original permit was for a shared dock with the Pauls’ neighbors, Donald and Victoria Thies. Union Electric issued this permit and the Pauls’ dock is currently placed in accordance with this permit. In 1984, the Pauls submitted a second dock permit application which was granted by Union Electric in a letter dated July 2, 1984. This dock permit allowed the Pauls to move their dock directly in front of the Pauls’ property and to discontinue the joint use of a dock with the Thies. Although the Pauls have never moved their dock to this new location, the permit to do so has never been withdrawn, revoked or terminated.

The Jacksons’ first application for a dock permit was dated March 14, 1991. At the time they requested this permit, the Jack-sons’ property was pie-shaped, with the widest portion of the land away from the shore-front and the narrower tip of land located where the land intersected the shore. In their application, the Jacksons sought to build a boat dock measuring 30 feet by 18 feet with a 25 foot long ramp and containing only one boat slip (one-well). In this original application, the dock began and extended out only in front of the Jacksons’ property and within their property lines extended lake-ward. It was to be located at a distance of 75 feet from the Pauls’ existing dock and did not overlap the Pauls’ property lines extended lakeward. A permit for this dock was granted in March, 1991.

The Jacksons submitted a second application for a boat dock in February, 1992. This application was also for a one-well dock with the same dimensions of 30 feet by 18 feet with a 25 foot ramp. However, the proposed distance between the Jacksons’ dock and the Pauls’ existing dock was reduced to 48 feet. Because of its closer proximity to the Pauls’ property, the southwest edge of the proposed dock would overlap the Pauls’ property lines extended lakeward and would extend beyond [289]*289the Jacksons’ property lines extended lake-ward.

Jeff Douglas, the Union Electric employee who reviews dock permit applications, recalled that he had discussions with the Jack-sons with regard to this second permit request. He said he had verbally indicated to them that this application would be denied because the proposed relocation of the dock would be so close to the Pauls’ property that it would be located over their property lines as extended into the lake and, conversely, would not be contained within the Jacksons’ property lines extended lakeward.

To avoid this problem, the Jacksons conceived the idea of subdividing their property into three separate tracts. The center tract was made into a rectangle shape by including in it all or nearly all of the lakefront property at the point the Jacksons’ land intersected the lake and then extending the property lines straight back away from the lake at a perpendicular angle to the lakefront. The remainder of the original single tract became two small triangular tracts of land on either side of the center tract. Those tracts came to a narrow pinpoint at the edge of the cove and were wide at the back. They, in effect, had no lake easement when their lines were extended lakeward. The Jacksons recorded the new subdivision of tracts with the Office of the Recorder of Miller County on April 2, 1992.

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Bluebook (online)
910 S.W.2d 286, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1587, 1995 WL 550096, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-v-jackson-moctapp-1995.