Starliper, B. v. Negley, K.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 5, 2021
Docket12 MDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Starliper, B. v. Negley, K. (Starliper, B. v. Negley, K.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starliper, B. v. Negley, K., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-A22022-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.0.P. 65.37

BARRY R. STARLIPER AND SUZANNE : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF L. STARLIPER : PENNSYLVANIA Vv.

KEVIN L. NEGLEY, MELISSA A. : NEGLEY, GERALD DUPERT AND LORA : No. 12 MDA 2020 DUPERT :

Appellant

Appeal from the Order Entered December 6, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County Civil Division at No(s): 2016-4031

BEFORE: SHOGAN, J., STABILE, J., and MURRAY, J. MEMORANDUM BY SHOGAN, J.: FILED MARCH O05, 2021 Appellants, Kevin L. Negley and Melissa A. Negley,! appeal from the December 6, 2019 order of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas in an action brought against them by Barry R. and Suzanne L. Starliper (“the Starlipers”). We affirm. A prior panel of this Court addressed and affirmed Appellants’ appeal from the judgment entered in the case on October 9, 2018. Appellants

contested the orders declaring an easement on their property, requiring them

1 As noted in the prior appeal, although Gerald Dupert and Lora Dupert also appealed, the trial court found that all claims against the Duperts were determined in favor of the Duperts. Therefore, as in the prior appeal, our reference to Appellants includes only the Negleys. J-A22022-20

to move part of a fence and detach their addition from the Starlipers’ addition, and awarding the Starlipers’ monetary damages for trespass. Starliper v. Negley, 222 A.3d 808, 1853 MDA 2018 (Pa. Super. filed October 4, 2019) (non-precedential decision).

We summarized the underlying dispute, as follows:

The properties at issue in this dispute originally comprised the Sunnyside Female Seminary, which was founded in 1858 in the Borough of Newburg, Pennsylvania. Trial Court Opinion, filed 7/30/18[,] at 1. The seminary included a three-story building, a two-story “addition” protruding from the rear of the building’s eastern half, and a backyard. The earliest recorded division of the property occurred in 1872, when the western [one-|half of the property (including the western [one-|half of the building) was conveyed. The Starlipers now hold the title to the eastern [one- half] of the property, including the original addition, which they acquired in June 2006.

The western portion became the property of Gerald and Lora Dupert in June 2015. The previous owner had started construction of a two-story addition on the rear of the residence, abutting the Starlipers’ addition. The previous owner died before completing the addition. When the Duperts took ownership, the addition consisted of studding, plywood, and a roof. In July and August 2015, the Duperts’ daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and Kevin Negley, finalized the construction on the addition.

The Duperts conveyed their property to [Appellants] in February 2016. Between April and May 2016, [Appellants] constructed a fire escape from the second story of the addition and erected a fence between the properties, alongside the property line. [Appellants] also constructed a detached garage and carport at the rear of their backyard.

The Starlipers commenced this action in July 2016 by filing a complaint asserting counts for trespass, nuisance, and obstruction of an easement. Following further pleadings, the Starlipers filed a “Motion for Declaratory Relief to Affirm Status of Easement.” The Starlipers alleged that the only way to access the exterior western wall of their addition, in order to maintain it, was

-2- J-A22022-20

by accessing part of [Appellants’] property. The Starlipers alleged that as their addition has existed since before the time the property was first divided, a _ five-foot wide easement by implication existed on the portion of [Appellants’] property that runs adjacent to it. The Starlipers asserted that access to the western wall of their addition has always been necessary, and that the wall now includes two windows, air vents, vinyl siding, and a rain gutter.

[Appellants] filed an Answer to the Motion for Declaratory Relief. They claimed that the Starlipers had never performed maintenance on the wall, and there was no evidence that any prior owners had ever accessed their property to perform any such maintenance.

The trial court granted the motion on the pleadings and entered an order declaring the Starlipers “have an easement of five feet in width, across the lot owned by [Appellants] to access the western wall of [the Starlipers’] addition.” Order, 11/8/17, at 6.

Six months later, the case proceeded to trial. Barry and Suzanne Starliper and Melissa and Kevin Negley each testified. The Starlipers testified that [Appellants’] addition impedes their access to the easement, as does the fire escape and fence. The Starlipers also testified that [Appellants’] addition was fastened to the Starlipers’ addition, and that during construction of the garage, [Appellants’] contractor spread soil, rocks, and debris onto the Starlipers’ back lawn. The Starlipers conceded that some of the rocks in their backyard were there prior to the construction. The Starlipers further testified that construction of the garage increased the flow of water onto their land. The Starlipers testified that they received an estimate of $1,480 from a landscaper to haul away the debris, apply topsoil to grade the yard, and replant grass. The Starlipers entered a copy of the estimate into evidence.

2 We refer to the testimony of Barry and Suzanne Starliper together as the “Starlipers’ testimony” and to the testimony of Melissa and Kevin Negley together as the “Negleys’ testimony.”

[Appellants] denied that their addition is attached to the Starlipers’ home, asserting that it is anchored to the rear of their

-3- J-A22022-20

own home. They testified that they could easily remove a panel of the fence within minutes, and offered to do so periodically to allow the Starlipers access to their exterior wall. [Appellants] stated that when construction on the garage began, they instructed their contractors to keep any dirt off the Starlipers’ property, but the contractors put some debris across the property line anyway. [Appellants] had the contractors remove as much of the debris as they could, but acknowledged that some remained in the Starlipers’ backyard. [Appellants] denied that construction of the garage altered the flow of water between the properties; [Appellants] testified they only slightly raised the elevation of the ground under the garage, and testified that their rear lawn has always sloped onto the Starlipers’ rear lawn.

[Appellants] also argued that the Starlipers’ claims should be banned by the doctrine of laches, as the Starlipers had delayed in asserting the existence of an easement until the Duperts/Negleys had purchased the property, finished the addition, and began construction of the fire escape and fence. Much of the testimony therefore revolved around the manner in which the Starlipers had protested the various phases of construction, both before and after the Duperts/Negleys acquired the property.

Relevant to our disposition, the Starlipers testified that they voiced their concerns to [Appellants] in the spring of 2016, soon after [Appellants] obtained ownership and began construction of the fire escape, fence, and garage. The Starlipers stated that they also attended a meeting of the Borough in May 2016, at which [Appellants] were present, to publicly object to the construction, and sent [Appellants] a cease and desist letter. [Appellants] testified that the Starlipers’ complaints to the Borough were limited to arguments regarding zoning and permits, and did not mention a right of way.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

George v. Ellis
911 A.2d 121 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Starliper, B. v. Negley, K., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starliper-b-v-negley-k-pasuperct-2021.