Shrader-Miller v. Miller

2004 ME 117, 855 A.2d 1139, 2004 Me. LEXIS 136
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedSeptember 8, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2004 ME 117 (Shrader-Miller v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shrader-Miller v. Miller, 2004 ME 117, 855 A.2d 1139, 2004 Me. LEXIS 136 (Me. 2004).

Opinion

CALKINS, J.

[¶ 1] John F. Miller and his wife, Norma F. Miller, appeal the judgment of the Superior Court (York County, Fritzsche, J.) declaring that (1) their late son’s real estate is not burdened by an access easement, and (2) their real estate is subject to an implied sewer easement. They also appeal the statutory treble damages assessed against them for trespass and the award of punitive damages for their malicious conduct. We affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] Patricia Shrader-Miller brought a complaint in five counts against the Millers, the parents of her deceased husband. Shrader-Miller is the personal representative and beneficiary of her husband’s estate. She sought an injunction to keep the Millers from interfering with property belonging to the estate; damages for common law and statutory trespass and for intentional interference with a sewer easement; and a declaratory judgment regarding an access easement. The Millers counter-claimed, seeking a declaration that they had an access easement by deed. A jury-waived trial was held.

[¶ 3] The dispute concerns a small lot and house in Ogunquit that was owned by the Millers for many years before they conveyed it to their son in 1998. The Millers also own and reside in the house next door to the conveyed property. Their son died in September 2002. The real estate they conveyed to him is now an asset of the son’s estate.

[¶ 4] When the Millers conveyed the estate property to their son, they attached limitations and restrictions in the deed. The son was not to convey the property to any other person in joint tenancy, and he could not sell it before giving a right of first refusal to the Millers’ nephew and then to his sister. At the time the Millers conveyed the estate property to their son, it was connected to the town sewer system through the Millers’ sewer line.

[¶ 5] A short time before the son died, he decided to sell the property and entered into an agreement with a purchaser. The son notified the nephew and sister about the prospective sale and the purchase price, and he stated that they had thirty days in which to exercise their right of first refusal. The son died before the thirty days expired.

[¶ 6] As the personal representative of the estate, Shrader-Miller chose to go forward with the sale of the estate property. Through her attorney, Shrader-Miller communicated with the nephew and sister, and she obtained an appraisal of the property. After several months, the nephew declined to purchase the property as he [1142]*1142disagreed with the price, and the sister also refused, saying that the price was too high. In the meantime, the prospective purchaser withdrew the purchase offer. As of the trial in October 2003, no sale of the estate property had taken place.

[¶ 7] In December 2002, Miller disconnected the sewer from the estate property, and he and his wife notified the Ogunquit code enforcement officer that the estate property was no longer connected to the sewer. The Town then posted the house as uninhabitable. The Millers did not notify Shrader-Miller that they were going to disconnect the sewer. At trial, Miller testified that he disconnected the sewer line because of an old agreement with a deceased neighbor, but the court found that this excuse was not believable. The court concluded that there was an implied easement to the sewer line.

[¶ 8] In May 2008, the Millers hired a contractor to replace lawn on the estate property with a semi-circular gravel driveway around the house on the estate property. The court found that the driveway surrounded the estate house like a moat. The Millers also removed two bushes on the estate property. The Millers testified that they constructed the driveway because of a history of a driveway in that location. Also, Mrs. Miller had had hip replacement surgery two years earlier, and they wanted closer access to their house than their own paved driveway allowed.

[¶ 9] The deed from the Millers to their son referred to an “easement of record for purposes of access” to the Millers’ land. Two experts, who had examined the numerous deeds to the properties, testified about them and whether there was an access easement of record over the estate property. Other witnesses testified about the historical use of the property. The court concluded that “no easements ever existed in or near to the location of the new driveway.” The court found that although a driveway had existed in the 1950s in about the same location as the new driveway, there was no easement of record.

[¶ 10] The trial court characterized the Millers’ disconnection of the sewer and construction of the gravel driveway as “actions which were vindictive and motivated by ill will.” It concluded that the Millers’ removal of the bushes was intentional. The court found: “These acts were done to punish [Shrader-Miller], discourage and interfere with the sale of the property and reduce the value received in the event of a sale.” The court further stated: “The decision of the Millers to build a driveway without consultation with or warning to [Shrader-Miller] was unjustified and was done, by clear and convincing evidence, with malice.” Further, the decision to disconnect the sewer “was done out of hatred for the woman who had married their son.”

[¶ 11] The court issued an injunction against the Millers restraining them from entering upon the estate property. It also ordered the Millers to reconnect the sewer line. The judgment declared that the Millers have no easement rights across the estate property and that there is an implied sewer easement burdening the Millers’ property. The court granted a judgment to Shrader-Miller on the statutory trespass claim, awarding damages of $2250 consisting of $500 for the intentional destruction of the bushes, $250 for professional services, and $1500 for removal of the driveway. The court ordered the Millers to pay punitive damages of $10,000 to Shrader-Miller. The court also granted judgment to Shrader-Miller on the Millers’ counter-claim seeking a declaration of an access easement of record. The Millers filed a postjudgment motion to amend and for further findings of fact, which the court denied.

[1143]*1143II. DISCUSSION

A.Access Easement

[¶ 12] The Millers appeal the declaration that there is no easement on the estate property benefiting the Millers’ property. They do not now challenge the trial court’s conclusion that there is no easement of record, but they contend that there is an implied access easement. However, they raise this contention for the first time on appeal. In the trial court they only asserted that they had an access easement by deed, and, therefore, they have failed to preserve the issue of an implied access easement. For that reason, we do not review the issue. Landmark Realty v. Leasure, 2004 ME 85, ¶ 10, 853 A.2d 749, 751.

B. Implied Sewer Easement

[¶ 18] The Millers also challenge the declaration of an implied sewer easement. They claim that Shrader-Miller failed to present sufficient evidence from which the court could find an implied easement. We review the trial court’s determination of the existence of an implied easement for clear error. See Frederick v. Consol. Waste Servs., Inc., 573 A.2d 387, 390 (Me.1990).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2004 ME 117, 855 A.2d 1139, 2004 Me. LEXIS 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shrader-miller-v-miller-me-2004.