Price Realty Co. v. AIRPORT AUTH. OF CITY OF LINCOLN

124 N.W.2d 207, 175 Neb. 791, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 225
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 1963
Docket35433
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 124 N.W.2d 207 (Price Realty Co. v. AIRPORT AUTH. OF CITY OF LINCOLN) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Price Realty Co. v. AIRPORT AUTH. OF CITY OF LINCOLN, 124 N.W.2d 207, 175 Neb. 791, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 225 (Neb. 1963).

Opinions

Yeager, J.

This is an action instituted by Price Realty, Inc., true name found' by the judgment to be Price Realty Co., a Nebraska corporation, plaintiff and appellant, against Airport Authority of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, Airport Parking Company, and the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, defendants and appellees, in which the plaintiff prayed for judgment against the defendants and each of them adjudging that the plaintiff have an easement for parking in an area of ground adjacent to and located west, southwest, and northwest of the Terminal Building belonging to the defendant City of Lincoln and operated for parking purposes by the defendant Airport Authority and the defendant Airport Parking Company; that the defendants be prohibited from making charges for parking in the area; and for damages on account of failure to allow use of the area without charge to the plaintiff and its customers of an eating place or restaurant for service to the public which was at a location in the Terminal Building leased and used by the plaintiff for the operation of the restaurant.

There was a joinder of issue on the matters tendered by the petition, a trial was had to the court, and judgment was rendered against the plaintiff and in favor of the defendants. Specifically it was adjudicated that there was no basis in fact or law for injunction; that there was no right to a recovery of damages against any of the defendants; that the parking lot was not an appurtenance to the plaintiff’s leasehold; and that its use was not so necessary to the beneficial enjoyment of plaintiff’s leasehold interest as to constitute an implied easement therein.

The plaintiff duly filed a motion for new trial which was overruled. From the order overruling the motion for new trial and the judgment the plaintiff has appealed.

[793]*793The lease in question was one in which the defendant Airport Authority was lessor and the plaintiff Price Realty Co. was lessee. In the language of the plaintiff in its brief the matter involved in the case is stated as follows: “The question involved was. whether the lease between the Plaintiff, Price Realty Co., and the Defendant, Airport Authority, passed with it as incident thereto an easement in the adjacent parking lot for customer use.” The brief also- points out that this issue and the matter of damages, if it had been deprived of this right, were the only two issues tried.

As grounds, for reversal the plaintiff asserted by assignments of error (1) that the court erred in finding for the defendants and against the plaintiff; (2) that the court erred in entering judgment for the defendants and against the plaintiff; and (3) that the court erred in finding and deciding that the plaintiff had no easement by necessity in the parking lot.

From the full purport of these assignments of error and the declaration of issues it becomes clear that but one question is presented for consideration. The question is that of whether or not the plaintiff had an easement by necessity in the parking lot.

The facts upon which the determination in this case must be made are not in dispute. They are, to the extent necessary to set them out here, that the plaintiff is a corporation engaged in the ownership and leasing of premises wherein, among other things, it operates places of business to furnish foods and refreshment for purchase by people who desire these services. The business engaged in is commonly referred to as restaurant business.

The defendant Airport Authority is an entity created under authority of law to control the property and facilities of what is commonly known as the Lincoln, Nebraska, Municipal Airport. The title to this, municipal airport is in the defendant City of Lincoln, Nebraska, but sole control thereof is in the Airport Authority. [794]*794The defendant Airport Parking Company is a corporation which has a lease from the Airport Authority which permits it to use a portion of the land area owned by. the City of Lincoln and controlled by the Airport Authority as a parking lot for automobiles and to charge fees therefor.

On the land area controlled by the Airport Authority are structures including what is commonly known as the Airport Terminal Building. The purpose of this building is to provide facilities for the operation of the airport and the welfare of the employees and of the traveling public. Portions of the building are allocated to particular functions and purposes, some of which are allocated under lease to the occupants. Some of the occupants, under right of occupancy in the building, have special rights in the area outside the building for the parking of their motor vehicles, but none, including the plaintiff, have any other or additional parking rights.

On June 23, 1960, the plaintiff became an occupant of a particular portion of the building under a written lease from the Airport Authority. The lease was entered into pursuant to an offer or bid made by the plaintiff. The lease was of a specifically described area and appurtenances within the building. No reference was contained to any appurtenance or right outside and beyond the building except the rights of ingress and egress to the leased area. There was evidence however of right of the placement of vehicles of the plaintiff, its employees, and those furnishing service to and for it beyond the leased area.

There are land areas to the east, south, southwest, and northwest of the Terminal Building. The main entrance to this building is on the south side. This provides the ingress and egress for the public to the building and for the plaintiff and its patrons to the area leased.

In this case there is no contention that there has been any interference with the ingress or egress facilities or with vehicular approach or departure or the parking [795]*795of automobiles used in connection with operation under the lease by plaintiff.

Within these areas is an area which is not described in or generally referred to in the lease and which is separated from the described leased premises, the dimensions of which are approximately 325 feet east and west and 200 feet north and south which had been, used and occupied by officers, employees, agents, and patrons of the lessee of the leased area and which belonged to the defendant City of Lincoln and had been used by the defendant Airport Authority for the purpose of parking automobiles. It is this described area that is of concern in this case. It appears that in this described area there was space for the parking of approximately 85 automobiles.

On June 29, 1960, this area was leased to the Airport Parking Company with permission to it to' make charges for parking therein, the effect of which was to prohibit its use free to customers of the plaintiff at its leased facility in the Terminal Building.

Before and for a short time after the lease to plaintiff was entered into the area was without restriction or restraint used by the customers of this lessee and previous lessees for the parking of automobiles, but without a grant or declaration of authority from any source.

The lease makes no mention of this area as an appurtenance of any kind or character of the leased premises, and also and in' particular, it is not mentioned as an area for the use of the customers of the plaintiff.

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Price Realty Co. v. AIRPORT AUTH. OF CITY OF LINCOLN
124 N.W.2d 207 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 N.W.2d 207, 175 Neb. 791, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/price-realty-co-v-airport-auth-of-city-of-lincoln-neb-1963.