R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc.

978 P.2d 581, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 53, 1999 WL 241612
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 27, 1999
Docket97-225, 97-226
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 978 P.2d 581 (R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc., 978 P.2d 581, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 53, 1999 WL 241612 (Wyo. 1999).

Opinion

LEHMAN, Chief Justice.

This appeal centers around the enforceability and location of an express easement granted by the predecessors in interest of R.C.R., Inc. to James C. and Sandra L. Hill (Hills) to access their property. The trial court granted a partial summary judgment in favor of the Hills, concluding the easement was valid and enforceable. After a bench trial, the court determined the location of the easement had been fixed by its historic use. We affirm.

ISSUES

Appellant, R.C.R., Inc., presents the following issues:

a. Is the easement granted by that certain document entitled “Easements,” recorded in book 694 at page 236 of the Carbon County records, an easement in gross?
b. Did the easement terminate upon a conveyance of their lands by the Grantees?
c. Is the easement a permanently floating-servitude?
d. Did the Trial Court err when it located the easement relying on Edgcomb v. Lower Valley Poiuer & Light, 922 P.2d 850 (Wyo. 1996)?
e. In the event the easement at issue must be located, did the Trial Court err in not allowing the servient estate owner the right in the first instance to fix the permanent location of the easement?
f. Did the Trial Court lose jurisdiction of the matter at the time the full time for appeal commenced to run, such that the Amended Judgment entered by the Trial Court is null and void and of no legal force or effect on the parties or the subject matter of this action?

The Hills, as appellees, respond with these two issues:

A. Did the trial court properly grant partial summary judgment in favor of Appel-lees on the validity of an express easement?
B. Did the trial court properly locate the easement used by Appellees to gain access *584 from the Baggott County Road to their home located in Section 9, T. 15 N., R. 83 W., 6th P.M., Carbon County, Wyoming?

FACTS

In 1959, Rainbow Canyon, Inc. (Rainbow Canyon) purchased land adjacent to the Encampment River in Carbon County, Wyoming. Rainbow Canyon was incorporated by George B. Kelley, Stephen G. Burg, Edwin F. Deline, and Walter W. Deline as a fishing-club, and each held one share in the corporation. Each shareholder also received a one-half acre lot on the Rainbow Canyon property. The individual plaintiffs in this case are the successors in interest to the original Rainbow Canyon shareholders. 1

The property was originally accessed by a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) road, which required fording the Encampment River from the west to the east side of the river. In 1960, Walter Deline asked Kermit Platt, who owned land adjoining the Rainbow Canyon property to the south, about purchasing a parcel of his land on the east side of the river so the property could be accessed from the county road. Mr. Platt did not wish to sell; however, he agreed to an access road across his land and suggested a contractor to blade a road through the sagebrush. No other individual directly sought permission to cross Mr. Platt’s property at that time, but each of the original owners, and their successors in interest, used the road.

In 1969, the Hills purchased an interest in Rainbow Canyon. Around 1976, they decided to build a home. The bank, which financed a portion of the Hills’ construction costs, required a valid, recorded access easement to the Hills’ property. On February 20, 1979, in a document entitled “Easements,” Mr. and Mrs. Platt granted the Hills an easement for ingress and egress from the county road to the Hills’ property across the Platts’ property. 2 The document was properly executed and recorded.

The document provides, in pertinent part:

FOR AND IN CONSIDERATION OF THE SUM OF Ten Dollars ($10.00) and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, Kermit C. Platt and Barbara P. Platt, husband and wife, hereinafter called the Grantor (whether one or more), hereby grants unto James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, P.O. Box 6, Encampment, Wyoming, their heirs and assigns, hereinafter called Grantee (whether one or more), * * *
* * * a perpetual right of way and easement to maintain, inspect, operate and travel upon an access road from the existing county road to the Grantees’ tract of land situate in the SE%SE% of Section 9, Township 15 North, Range 83 West of the 6th P. M., over, across and upon the lands owned by the Grantor in the E$ of Section 16, Township 15 North, Range 83 West of the 6th P. M., together with the right of ingress and egress to and from said land for any and all purposes necessary and incident to the exercise by the Grantee of the rights granted by this easement and right of way.
Grantor shall have the right to use and enjoy the above described premises and the Grantee shall not interfere with the Grantors’ use and occupancy of said land and shall not build, create or permit any obstructions or excavations or ditches which would interfere with the safety or grazing of livestock; provided, however, Grantor shall not exercise such use and enjoyment in a manner that will impair or interfere with the exercise by Grantee of any of the rights herein granted.
The terms, conditions and provisions of this agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto, their heirs, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and legal representatives. *585 All rights herein granted may be released or assigned in whole or in part.

In 1990, Jon R. and Martha K. Gray purchased the northern 90 acres of the Platt’s property, and, in 1992, they acquired the remaining 230 acres of the parcel. The warranty deeds included language indicating that the deeds were subject to all easements, reservations, restrictions, and rights-of-way of record or apparent on the grounds. The recorded Hill easement was thus excepted from the deeds, and the title insurance policy also excepted the Hill easement. Title to the entire parcel was eventually transferred to R.C.R., Inc., a corporation owned by the Grays. R.C.R., Inc. subsequently sold the southern 230 acres to Alex J. Horst.

In 1993, Mr. Gray wrote the Rainbow Canyon shareholders a letter, proposing to give them a written easement for either: 1). a conveyance of some Rainbow Canyon land to him and cross-fishing rights, or 2) an equal share of ownership in Rainbow Canyon, Inc. and certain amendments to its bylaws. On June 11, 1994, R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst granted Rainbow Canyon an easement across a portion of the Gray and Horst lands. That easement did not follow the route of the existing access road and, by its own terms, has now expired. In the fall of 1994, Mr. Gray sent the shareholders an invoice for trespassing fees in the amount of $4,800 for six months.

Rainbow Canyon, Inc.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
978 P.2d 581, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 53, 1999 WL 241612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rcr-inc-v-rainbow-canyon-inc-wyo-1999.