Venuto v. DiClemente

13 Mass. L. Rptr. 539
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedJuly 31, 2001
DocketNo. 9904974F
StatusPublished

This text of 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 539 (Venuto v. DiClemente) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Venuto v. DiClemente, 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 539 (Mass. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Gants, J.

In 1948, the parties’ parents, Pierino and Concetta DiClemente (“Pierino” and “Concetta”), as tenants in the entireties, purchased a parcel of land on Jackson Street in Newton Center that contained a single-family home, later converted into a two-family house. In 1955, they subdivided their parcel of land into two lots:

a front lot, where their single-family home was located (“the front lot”); and
a rear lot, consisting of the rear area of the parcel and a strip of land that connects this rear area to Jackson Street (“the rear lot”). This type of rear lot is commonly referred to as a “pork chop lot,” because it resembles a pork chop — with the meat being the rear area and the bone being the strip of land that provided limited street frontage. A two-family house was later built on this rear lot.

Pierino DiClemente died on October 20, 1969, and Concetta became the sole owner of both the front and rear lots. Concetta lived in one of the units in the two-family house on the rear lot. On November 24, 1969, Concetta conveyed a one-half undivided interest in the house and land on the rear lot to her son, defendant Domenic DiClemente (“Domenic"), as tenants in common. Concetta died on December 28, 1997.

Under Concetta’s Last Will and Testament (“the Will”), which was probated in June 1998, Concetta made the following bequests:

She gave Dominic her one-half interest as tenants in common in the rear lot, thereby making Dominic the sole owner of the rear lot;
She gave her three daughters — plaintiffs Anna Venuto and Leontina Anastasia, and defendant Mary Louise Visco1 (“the three sisters”) — the front lot as tenants in common but with one restriction: “So long as DOMENIC DICLEMENTE is an owner of the [rear lot], no sale or other conveyance of any interest in the [front lot] shall be valid without his written consent.” (Emphasis in original).
She divided the balance of her property equally among her four children; and
She appointed Domenic as the executor of her estate.

A dispute arose among the four children regarding the settlement of their mother’s estate, which was eventually resolved through a Settlement Agreement dated March 5, 1999. As part of this Settlement Agreement, the three sisters granted their brother Domenic “an additional right of first refusal respecting any potential sale of [the front lot].”

The Settlement Agreement sadly did not resolve all the problems that have divided the four children since their mother’s death. The “bone” of the rear “pork chop lot,” owned by Domenic, contained the driveway used both by Domenic to reach the garage of his house on the rear lot and by the three sisters (and their tenants) to reach the garage of their house on the front lot. On August 9, 1999, Domenic, through his attorney, informed the attorneys for his three sisters that, effective November 1, 1999, they were prohibited from using the common driveway even to gain access to their garage. This directive has yet to take effect, because Judge Herman Smith of this Court on October 21, 1999 preliminarily enjoined Domenic from prohibiting his three sisters and their tenants from gaining access to their home and garage via the driveway. In addition, the three sisters, none of whom reside in the house on the front lot, have attempted to put the front lot up for sale, but have found no broker who will accept the listing because of Domenic’s right of first refusal under the Settlement Agreement and the need for his written consent before any sale of the front lot can become valid.

Two of the three sisters — Ms. Venuto and Ms. Anastasia — have filed suit seeking two different forms of relief: (1) a declaratory judgment granting the front lot an easement over the driveway for ingress and egress only, bolstered by a permanent injunction enjoining Domenic from prohibiting ingress and egress by the owners of the front lot, their tenants, their visitors, and their tenants’ visitors; and (2) a declaratory judgment that the provision in the Will — "So long as DOMENIC DICLEMENTE is an owner of the [rear lot], no sale or other conveyance of any interest in the [front lot] shall be valid without his written consent" — is null and void because it is an unreasonable restriction on the alienation of property. This Court will address each issue in turn.

The Alleged Driveway Easement

When the parties’ parents created the “pork chop” rear lot in 1955, there was nothing written about an easement being granted upon the rear lot for the benefit of the front lot to permit ingress and egress into [540]*540the garage on the front lot. Nor, when Conceit a died, was there anything in her Will that spoke of an easement.

An easement, however, may exist by implication; it need not be granted in writing. In the context of this case, an easement by implication may exist if Pierino and Concetta DiClemente intended when they subdivided their parcel of land into a rear and front lot to permit the owner of the front lot to use the driveway that was part of the rear lot for ingress and egress into the garage on the front lot. If such an easement were not contemplated at the time because Pierino and Concetta planned to own both lots, an easement by implication may still exist if Concetta, following her husband’s death and in contemplation of her own, intended that her three daughters have an easement over the driveway sufficient to permit them and their tenants to enter and depart the garage on the front lot. See Perodeau v. O’Connor, 336 Mass. 472, 474 (1957) (intention of the parties is the “controlling factor" in determining whether an easement exists by implication).

There can be no doubt that the parties’ parents, prior to their death, intended that the front lot have the benefit of an easement over the driveway on the rear lot to permit entry to and exit from the garage on the front lot. In reaching this finding, it is plain that:

the “pork chop” shape of the rear lot was necessary to give the rear lot frontage on Jackson Street;
the frontage that was designated as part of the rear lot contained the driveway that had been used by the front lot to gain access to the garage;
apart from this common driveway, there was no other driveway that led to the garage on the front lot, and no other means for a vehicle to gain access to that garage;
from 1955, when the parcel was subdivided, until Concetta died in December 1997, those who resided on the front lot were permitted to use the common driveway for ingress and egress to the garage on the front lot. This practice did not cease in November 1969, when Domenic was conveyed the one-half undivided interest in the rear lot that previously had been held by his father; and
if no implied easement were found to exist and Domenic forbade use of this driveway for access to and from the garage on the front lot, the three sisters would need to seek the approval of the City of Newton for a new curb cut and, if the City gave approval, would have to construct a second driveway entirely on the front lot.

“(E)asements by implication generally are created when land under single ownership is severed and the easement is reasonably necessary for the enjoyment of one of the parcels.” Silverleib v. Hebshie, 33 Mass.App.Ct.

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Related

Perodeau v. O'CONNOR
146 N.E.2d 512 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1957)
Franklin v. Spadafora
447 N.E.2d 1244 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
Silverlieb v. Hebshie
33 Mass. App. Ct. 911 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 Mass. L. Rptr. 539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/venuto-v-diclemente-masssuperct-2001.