Ritter v. Bergmann

72 Mass. App. Ct. 296
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedJuly 31, 2008
DocketNo. 07-P-93
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 72 Mass. App. Ct. 296 (Ritter v. Bergmann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ritter v. Bergmann, 72 Mass. App. Ct. 296 (Mass. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Duffly, J.

At the heart of this appeal is a decision of a judge of the Land Court to award treble damages to the plaintiff landowner on her claim that the defendants cut down trees on the plaintiff’s land. The judge found that the defendants, David Bergmann and Sherri Bergmann (the Bergmanns) had wilfully cut down the trees and calculated the damage to the plaintiff, Joan C. Ritter, trustee of the Birch Knoll trust (Ritter), to be in the amount of $43,594, and trebled damages under G. L. c. 242, § 7, to $130,782.4

In this appeal, the Bergmanns assert that: (1) the Land Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to award damages pursuant to G. L. c. 242, § 7; (2) even if there is jurisdiction, the trial judge abused his discretion in permitting Ritter to amend her complaint on the eve of trial to add a claim under § 7; and (3) restoration cost was not the proper measure of damages. We affirm.5

1. Summary of findings of fact and decision. Ritter and her husband, Sherwin Ritter, own a home at 195 Common Lane, Beverly (also described as lot 10 on a plan of the land). The Bergmanns live at 211 Common Lane, also known as lot 12. In between these two lots lies an undeveloped parcel, lot 11, owned by Ritter as trustee of the Birch Knoll Trust. The Ritters’ and Bergmanns’ homes are both accessed by a common driveway located on lot 11.

Lot 11 is a buildable lot consisting of approximately five acres that, at the time of trial, was vacant and wooded except in areas where trees and brush had been removed by the Bergmanns. The [298]*298driveway that serves lots 10 and 12 has three sections: a portion that extends in a northerly direction from Common Lane, a public road, to a point where it divides; a spur that proceeds right from that point, in a northeasterly direction, to the Ritters’ house; and another spur that proceeds left from that point, in a northwesterly direction, to the Bergmanns’ house. The easement documents provide that the respective owners of lots 10, 11 and 12 have responsibility each to pay an equal share of the costs of repair and maintenance, as well for “[p]lanting/[t]ree [mjaintenance” including “the preservation of planting and trees.” The documents specifically also provide that Ritter, as the owner of lot 11, “shall have the right to enforce the obligation of the owner of [lot] 12 to repair and maintain the land on the easement area to the extent required hereby so as to provide and maintain the area in its most natural state and use for the owner of [lot] 11.”

In the spring and summer of 2002, the Bergmanns cut down many trees, damaged others, and excavated a substantial area on lot 11 in areas both to the north of the driveway, leading to their house, and to the south. The judge specifically did not credit the Bergmanns’ claims that they believed the affected land to be theirs, finding that the Bergmanns, who had had a survey done at the time of the purchase of their lot in 1993, knew they had built their house very close to the lot line and that David Bergmann knew where the lot line was. He found that the Bergmanns engaged in the tree removal and excavation activities “willfully, and without the Bergmanns’ having good reason to believe that the land was theirs or that their activities were otherwise lawfully authorized.”6

The judge awarded damages to Ritter as compensation for the Bergmanns’ illegal tree clearing. The crux of the damages phase of this case was whether damages should be calculated on the basis of the diminution in the fair value of lot 11 resulting from [299]*299the Bergmanns’ activities or on the basis of replacement cost and restoration.

The trial judge concluded that, on the evidence, the proper measure of damages was the cost to Ritter of restoring her land to a reasonable approximation of its former condition.- He found that one area affected consisted of approximately 4,000 square feet of land north of the Bergmanns’ driveway that formerly had been heavily wooded with mature trees and saplings. The Bergmanns, intending there to construct a swimming pool and pool-house, had cleared it of “many trees” — all of the trees had been removed from an approximately 800 square foot excavated area, and outside of the excavation many trees were either cut down or heavily damaged, including a white pine 25.5 inches in diameter. The judge found that another affected area within lot 11 located south of the Bergmanns’ driveway (approximately 1,100 square feet in size) also had been, prior to the tree clearing activities carried out by the Bergmanns, a heavily wooded area, with a combination of evergreens and hardwoods. The judge determined the “restoration” and “replacement cost” damages to be $43,594. This amount included costs associated with site preparation, individual selection and planting of the trees, and a one-year warranty on each tree.

Given his finding that the Bergmanns had, in the language of c. 242, § 7, acted “wilfully” and “without license,” in cutting down or destroying the trees, the judge awarded Ritter treble damages under that statute. The Bergmanns’ appeal challenges the Land Court judgment on both substantive and procedural grounds.

2. Discussion, a. Jurisdiction. We reject the Bergmanns’ contention that the Land Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate Ritter’s claim under G. L. c. 242, § 7, and conclude that the Land Court properly adjudicated the § 7 claim because it was ancillary to the plaintiff’s claim for declaratory and injunctive relief respecting the alleged illegal encroachments on lot 11.

We begin by noting that pursuant to G. L. c. 185, § l(/t), the Land Court and Superior Court have concurrent jurisdiction of “matters cognizable under the general principles of equity jurisprudence where any right, title or interest in land is involved.” [300]*300See Senior Hous. Properties Trust v. HealthSouth Corp., 447 Mass. 259, 263 n.11 (2006).7

General Laws c. 242, which is entitled, “Waste and Trespass,” falls within the title of the General Laws designated, “Remedies Relating to Real Property.” Nothing in G. L. c. 242, § 7, nor in any other section of c. 242, for that matter, suggests that the Land Court does not have jurisdiction to consider claims under § 7, where other principles of law would permit such consideration. This is in contrast, for example, to petitions for partition of land, as to which the “Probate [and Family Courts] and the [L]and [C]ourt shall have concurrent jurisdiction,” G. L. c. 241, § 2; and to actions brought pursuant to G. L. c. 93A, which may only be brought “in the [S]uperior [C]ourt, or in the [Hjousing [C]ourt.”8 G. L. c. 93A, § 9(1).

The complaint in this case was in two counts, both based on the Bergmanns’ actions of cutting trees and bushes on Ritter’s property without her permission and treating her property as their own: count I, for trespass, sought damages; count H, for declaratory and injunctive relief, sought a declaration of the parties’ rights to lot 11, and orders enjoining the trespass and restoring the property to its prior condition. These claims were within the Land Court’s jurisdiction to decide, and the defendants do not suggest otherwise.

[301]*301Because the Land Court could properly entertain the requests for equitable and declaratory relief, it also had jurisdiction to award damages in this case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
72 Mass. App. Ct. 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ritter-v-bergmann-massappct-2008.