West Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. James River Broadcasting Co.

393 N.W.2d 83, 1986 S.D. LEXIS 314
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 3, 1986
DocketNo. 15053
StatusPublished

This text of 393 N.W.2d 83 (West Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. James River Broadcasting Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. James River Broadcasting Co., 393 N.W.2d 83, 1986 S.D. LEXIS 314 (S.D. 1986).

Opinion

HERTZ, Acting Justice.

James River Broadcasting Co. (James River), appeals from an order granting summary judgment to West Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. (West Central). We reverse and remand.

Statement of Facts

West Central is a South Dakota electrical cooperative which provides electricity to consumers in Lyman, Jones, Stanley, Jackson, Mellette, and Haakon counties. James River is a South Dakota corporation which operates KGFX Radio Station.

James River maintains a broadcast facility approximately five miles south of Ft. Pierre, South Dakota, on U.S. Highway 83. The present dispute arose over West Central’s desire to construct an electrical transmission line across James River’s property from the northwest. The purpose of this line was to linkup a new substation with an existing line which crosses the property from the south to a point within a few feet of James River’s building.

West Central claims the right to construct the new line by virtue of two unrecorded easements which it obtained from James River’s predecessor in interest, Black Hills Radio, Inc., (Black Hills Radio). The two easements were granted in 1965 and 1966, respectively. James River purchased Radio Station KGFX in 1968. The trial court found that James River did not know of the existence of West Central’s two written easements, nor the contents thereof, when it purchased KGFX in 1968.

West Central acquired the first easement in June of 1965 from James A. Wyly, the then record owner of the subject property. This easement gave West Central the right “to place, construct, ... in or upon all ... highways abutting said lands an electric transmission or distribution line or system ...” Thereafter, West Central constructed the line referenced above which approaches the KGFX broadcast facility from the south and provides power to the tower site. The 1965 easement was never recorded. James River admitted constructive notice of this easement, however, because the line’s existence is open and obvious from a viewing of the premises.

In 1966, West Central obtained another right-of-way easement from Black Hills Radio. This easement authorized West Central to do the following:

[T]o place, construct, operate, repair, maintain, relocate and replace thereon and in or upon all streets, roads or highways abutting said lands an electric transmission or distribution line or system and to cut and trim trees and shrubbery to the extent necessary to keep them clear of said electric line or system and to cut down from time to time all dead, weak, leaning or dangerous trees that are tall enough to strike the wires in falling.

[85]*85The 1966 easement remained unrecorded until shortly before West Central initiated the present declaratory judgment action in. March of 1984. The record shows that this easement was executed after West Central placed the existing line to the south of the KGFX building.

Upon learning of West Central’s plan, James River informed them that the new power line would interfere with KGFX’s broadcast signal and cause substantial damage to the radio station. To avoid violating their FCC license, James River estimated a cost of at least $50,000 to re-engineer its broadcast signal due to the anticipated interference caused by the northwest power line. As an alternative, they requested that the line be placed underground.

Apart from their claim of right under the easements, West Central responded that the cost of re-routing the transmission line would be substantially greater than the cost of re-aiming James River’s broadcast signal. Moreover, West Central stated that its policy relating to undergrounding lines dictated that the increased cost be paid by the requesting party. They further argued that the northwest line is crucial to provide Stanley and northern Lyman counties with reliable electrical service in view of the fact that their present outage rate is some 200% that of the balance of West Central’s service area.

On March 16, 1984, West Central commenced a declaratory judgment action to establish its right to construct the northwest transmission line allegedly authorized by the 1965 and 1966 easements. Thereafter, both parties filed motions for summary judgment.

In granting West Central’s motion, the trial court found that despite the fact that the easements were unrecorded, the southern transmission line was, nevertheless, in place and clearly visible upon an inspection of the premises when James River purchased the radio station in 1968. Thus, the trial court held that the southern line imputed constructive notice of the 1966 easement to James River who was bound to make further inquiry. The trial court entered its order on May 27, 1985, and this appeal followed.

James River now contends that actual notice of the southern power line, constructed in reference to the 1965 easement, did not give them constructive notice of the 1966 easement which went unrecorded until the inception of this litigation, and from which West Central claims the present right to construct the northwest power line.

We consider the sole issue on appeal as whether the summary judgment entered by the trial court against James River was proper? We hold that it was not.

In determining whether summary judgment was proper in Hamaker v. Kenwel-Jackson, 387 N.W.2d 515, 517 (S.D.1986), we stated:

In summary judgment, the burden of proof is on the moving party to show clearly that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The evidence must be viewed most favorably to the nonmoving party and reasonable doubts should be resolved against the moving party. Summary judgment is an extreme remedy and is not intended as a substitute for a trial.

Wilson v. Great Northern Railway Company, 83 S.D. 207, 212, 157 N.W.2d 19, 21 (1968).

The trial court relied heavily upon Weige v. Knock, 293 N.W.2d 146 (S.D.1980), in which we held that a continuously used and obvious well, imputed constructive notice of an unrecorded easement for the permanent and transferable right to use the water from the well. In Weige, the appellants argued that since no documents were on record revealing the appellees’ water rights, that the appellants should not be [86]*86bound to any permanent water right easement. In rejecting this argument, we wrote:

Notice of an easement is generally imputed to a purchaser where the easement is of such character that a purchaser acting with ordinary diligence would know or learn of its existence. Thus, where the easement is open and visible, the purchaser will be charged with notice even though the easement was created by a grant which was not then recorded. The grantee is bound where a reasonably careful inspection of the premises would disclose the existence of the easement or where the grantee has knowledge of facts sufficient to put a prudent buyer on inquiry, (citations omitted).

Id. at 148.

In Weige,

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Bluebook (online)
393 N.W.2d 83, 1986 S.D. LEXIS 314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-central-electric-cooperative-inc-v-james-river-broadcasting-co-sd-1986.