Utah Department of Transportation v. ROA General, Inc.

927 P.2d 666, 303 Utah Adv. Rep. 12, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 107, 1996 WL 646693
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedNovember 7, 1996
DocketNo. 950565-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 927 P.2d 666 (Utah Department of Transportation v. ROA General, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Utah Department of Transportation v. ROA General, Inc., 927 P.2d 666, 303 Utah Adv. Rep. 12, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 107, 1996 WL 646693 (Utah Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

WILKINS, Judge:

ROA General, Inc. (ROA) appeals the summary judgment entered by the district court in favor of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). ROA alleges mistakes of law and genuine issues of material fact which would preclude summary judgment. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

In April 1987, YLS Partnership (YLS) submitted a bid to UDOT for a parcel of real property located in Weber County. UDOT ultimately accepted the bid and delivered a quit claim deed to YLS in July 1987. The deed gives a metes-and-bounds description and then declares that the “described tract of land contains 3.36 acres and is granted without access to or from the adjoining freeway [1-15], or 4400 South, or the 134.37 ft. along and contiguous to 1500 West St., over and across the northwesterly, northerly and easterly boundary lines of said tract.”

A couple of years later, in November 1989, YLS entered into a lease agreement with ROA, giving ROA permission to build and maintain an outdoor advertising sign on YLS’s property adjacent to Interstate 15. Shortly thereafter, on December 4, 1989, YLS applied to UDOT for a permit to construct the billboard.

UDOT granted the sign permit on December 19,1989. However, the permit contained an express condition: “If the permittee has not resolved or obtained permanent access to this property within 90 days of approval of this permit, the permit will be null and void.”

YLS contended that the quit claim deed from UDOT in' fact gave YLS access to the property because the metes-and-bounds description in the deed left a gap of at least nineteen feet along 1500 West and because the deed did not describe this gap as being without access. UDOT disputed this reading of the deed and claimed to have sold YLS a landlocked parcel of property. YLS presented no other evidence of permanent access to the property within the ninety days specified in the permit.

Finally, on June 19, 1990, a UDOT officer sent YLS a letter indicating that the sign permit had been revoked as of that date. YLS then filed suit against UDOT in September of that year, seeking to prevent invalidation of the permit.

Because of protracted settlement negotiations, the case never proceeded to trial. In fact, in April 1991, YLS entered an agreement to purchase access to the south of the parcel with the adjacent landowner, the Howard J. and Janet R. Ellis Revocable Trust (Ellis Trust). Nevertheless, it is unclear from the record before us whether this right of access has ever actually been transferred or deeded to YLS. For purposes of evaluating the propriety of the summary judgment, we assume it was in fact transferred to YLS sometime during or after April 1991, after the expiration of the 1989 permit.

Subsequently, on January 12, 1994, YLS submitted an application to renew its 1989 sign permit. On January 25,1994, ROA also submitted an application to renew the 1989 YLS permit.

However, on February 1, 1994, before UDOT had acted on the YLS and ROA applications, Saunders Outdoor Advertising applied to UDOT for a permit to erect a billboard on property just south of the YLS property — at a location close enough to the YLS site so as to preclude YLS and ROA from constructing their proposed sign. On February 17, 1994, UDOT issued an order denying both YLS’s and ROA’s applications to renew the 1989 YLS permit.

ROA and YLS told UDOT they planned to build immediately a billboard on the property, with or without the permit. UDOT then [668]*668filed suit against YLS and ROA, seeking to enforce its order denying the permits and to prevent YLS and ROA from erecting a billboard on their proposed site.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of UDOT in June 1995. In furtherance of the judgment, the trial court issued a permanent injunction barring anyone from erecting a sign at the proposed YLS location. ROA appeals.

ANALYSIS

ROA argues UDOT exceeded its authority by imposing the ninety-day time limit and the access requirement when it conditionally granted YLS the sign permit in 1989. ROA further argues that material issues of fact preclude summary judgment and that the evidence shows YLS obtained access to its property through either the quit claim deed from UDOT or through the contract with the Ellis Trust. Finally, ROA argues UDOT should have granted either the YLS or ROA “permit renewal” applications or should have treated them as original applications and granted the permits.

Whenever we consider an appeal from a summary judgment, we review the trial court’s legal conclusions, including its conclusion that the material facts are not disputed, for correctness. See Utah R.Civ.P. 56(e) (stating that summary judgment is appropriate only if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law”). This standard allows us to make our own conclusions and does not obligate us to defer to the trial court. See State v. Pena, 869 P.2d 932, 936 (Utah 1994).

I. 1989 Sign Permit

We first consider whether UDOT has the authority to impose the time limit and the access requirement by which UDOT conditioned YLS’s use of the 1989 sign permit. ROA argues that UDOT exceeded the scope of its legal authority by imposing these conditions, and, thus, ROA claims that the original sign permit granted to YLS is still valid.

ROA relies on the Outdoor Advertising Act, codified at Utah Code Ann. §§ 27-12-136.1 to -136.13 (1995), for the proposition that UDOT may not promulgate regulations more restrictive than the Outdoor Advertising Act, and argues that the imposed conditions are more restrictive. See id. § 27-12-136.6. We agree in part.

Section 27-12-136.7(2)(a) of the Utah Code expressly provides that “each permit issued by the department expires on June 30 of each year.” Id. § 27-12-136.7(2)(a) (1995). Any attempt by UDOT to impose a different expiration on permits contradicts the statute and is of no effect. IML Freight, Inc. v. Ottosen, 538 P.2d 296, 297 (Utah 1975) (holding agency may not ‘“adopt rules or regulations which abridge, enlarge, extend or modify the statute’” (quoting State ex rel. McCulloch v. Ashby, 73 N.M. 267, 387 P.2d 588, 590 (1963))); McKnight v. State Land Bd., 14 Utah 2d 238, 244-45, 381 P.2d 726, 730 (1963) (holding administrative agency may not promulgate rules and regulations, or take action contrary to or in excess of statutory law). In Crowther v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 762 P.2d 1119 (Utah App.1988), this court held that an agency may not take actions in “ ‘conflict with the design of an Act, and when they do the court has a duty to invalidate them.... Furthermore, when an administrative official misconstrues a statute and issues a regulation beyond the scope of a statute, it is in excess of administrative authority granted.’” Id. at 1122 (quoting Travelers Indem. Co. v. Barnes, 191 Colo.

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Related

McKnight v. State Land Board
381 P.2d 726 (Utah Supreme Court, 1963)
IML Freight, Inc. v. Ottosen
538 P.2d 296 (Utah Supreme Court, 1975)
Kunz & Co. v. State, Utah Department of Transportation
913 P.2d 765 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1996)
State v. Pena
869 P.2d 932 (Utah Supreme Court, 1994)
Hancock v. Planned Development Corp.
791 P.2d 183 (Utah Supreme Court, 1990)
Travelers Indemnity Company v. Barnes
552 P.2d 300 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1976)
Crowther v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
762 P.2d 1119 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1988)
State Ex Rel. McCulloch v. Ashby
387 P.2d 588 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1963)

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927 P.2d 666, 303 Utah Adv. Rep. 12, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 107, 1996 WL 646693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/utah-department-of-transportation-v-roa-general-inc-utahctapp-1996.