Summary
noting that "use by a child of land owned by its parent is regarded as permissive" absent clear notice of the childs intention to assert an adverse claim
Summary of this case from Matthews v. DennisOpinion
44607 Record No. 811178.
March 9, 1984.
Present: All the Justices.
Child's use of an alley which began by permission of the parent-grantor remains permissive use, absent clear notice of child's adverse and exclusive use for a period of twenty years. Evidence is insufficient to support Chancellors' determination of a prescriptive easement.
(1) Property — Real Property — Easements — Prescriptive Use — Burden of Proof — On Claimant to Show Use Was Adverse, Exclusive, Open and Uninterrupted for Twenty Years.
(2) Property — Real Property — Easements — Prescriptive Use — Burden of Proof — On Showing of Adverse, Exclusive, Open and Uninterrupted Use, Burden Shifts to Owner to Show Permissive Use.
(3) Property — Real Property — Easements — Burden of Proof — Original Use by Permission Presumed to Remain Permissive Absent Clear Proof of Open and Hostile Use.
(4) Property — Real Property — Easements — Burden of Proof — Child's Use of Parent's Land Presumed Permissive and Not Adverse.
(5) Property — Real Property — Easements — Prescriptive Use — Evidence — Insufficient to Show Use Under Claim of Right.
(6) Property — Real Property — Easements — Prescriptive Use — Use by Relatives of Owner Constitutes Presumed Permissive Use Terminable at Will of Owner or His Successor.
In 1928 W. C. Wornom, owner of a tract of land in the City of Hampton, subdivided the tract into eight lots and conveyed some of the lots to his children. In 1934 he conveyed lot 3 to his daughter Marion Proctor and her husband, complainants below. Wornom simultaneously opened an alley along the southern and eastern boundaries of the tract to provide access to the lots. At his death in 1955, Wornom devised lot 2 to another daughter, Virginia, who later conveyed it to her brother, Percy. Percy's widow sold the lot to Martin, a non-family member, in 1978. Martin subsequently blocked access to the alley across his lot. The Proctors filed suit in chancery for injunctive relief, claiming a prescriptive easement in the alley.
Evidence presented to a commissioner in chancery showed that the alley had been used on daily basis by Wornom for 21 years prior to his death in 1955 and by other family members residing in the subdivision and their invitees, as well as by strangers. Although no formal agreement existed concerning use of the alley, family members testified that they knew that they had Wornom's permission to use the alley. The Commissioner found that the complainants had a right-of-way by prescription entitling them to the relief requested. The Chancellor overruled exceptions to the report and entered a decree in favor of the complainants. Martin appeals.
1. To acquire a prescriptive right-of-way over the lands of another, a claimant must show that his use was adverse, under claim of right, exclusive, continuous, open and notorious and uninterrupted for a period of at least twenty years.
2. Where a claimant of a prescriptive easement offers proof that his use of another's land was open, visible, continuous and uninterrupted for a period of at least twenty years, such proof raises a rebuttable presumption that the use was prescriptive. The owner of the servient estate may rebut the claim of right by showing that the use was permissive. Craig v. Kennedy, 202 Va. 654, 119 S.E.2d 320 (1961), followed.
3. When the use of the land of another originates by permission it is presumed to continue indefinitely as a permissive use unless the user openly asserts a claim adverse and hostile to the rights of the owner, sufficient to inform the owner of the change in use. Witt v. Creasy, 117 Va. 872, 86 S.E. 128 (1915); Wall v. Landman, 152 Va. 889, 148 S.E. 779 (1929), followed.
4. A child's use of his or her parent's land is considered permissive absent a showing of the child's having given clear, definite or unequivocal notice of an intent to assert exclusive ownership.
5. Here the right-of-way was shared by the owner with his children. Evidence of adverse and hostile use by the children is insufficient to prove a right by prescription during the owner's lifetime.
6. The use of an easement is not considered adverse when made by near relatives of the owner who were on friendly terms with him. Defendants' use of plaintiff's alley began by permission of relatives and remained permissive and was therefore terminable at the will of the owner or his successor in Interest.
Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the City of Hampton. Hon. Nelson T. Overton, judge presiding.
Reversed and final judgment.
Eugene M. Jordan for appellant.
No argument or brief for appellees.
The dispositive issue raised on this appeal is whether the chancellor erred in decreeing that Lorrimer C. Proctor and Marion Wornom Proctor, his wife, complainants below, had acquired a right of way by prescription across an adjacent lot owned by William E. Martin.
The Proctors and Martin derived title to their lots from a common source. W. C. Wornom owned a tract of land 150 feet deep and fronting approximately 622 feet along the southern line of Old Point Avenue. Shaped as a parallelogram with the short legs bearing northeast, the tract was bounded on the west by Boxwood Street and on the south and east by the Hampton Golf and Country Club. In 1928, Wornom subdivided the tract without benefit of a survey. During his lifetime, he conveyed some of the lots to some of his children and, at his death, devised the remainder to his children, subject to a life estate granted his widow in the "homeplace" located in the northwest corner of the tract. In 1956, following Wornom's death in 1955, his widow and children had the entire tract surveyed and executed a deed memorializing the boundaries reflected on the plat. The plat showed eight lots numbered consecutively from west to east.
In 1934, Wornom had conveyed lot 3, designated below as the dominant tenement, to his daughter, Marion Wornom Proctor. Marion and her husband, who were then living with her parents at the homeplace on lot 1, began construction of their own home facing Old Point Avenue. About the same time, Wornom graded and opened an "alleyway or road" extending from Boxwood Street to Old Point Avenue along the southern and eastern boundaries of the tract. This alley was not mentioned in the 1956 deed or depicted on the plat.
Wornom devised lot 2, the servient tenement, to another daughter, Virginia Wornom Shockley, who later conveyed it to her brother, Percy Wornom. Percy died intestate in 1972, and Martin acquired lot 2 from Dorothy D. Wornom, Percy's widow and sole heir at law, in 1978.
Evidence presented to a commissioner in chancery showed that W. C. Wornom used the alley for 21 years before his death.
W. C. Wornom, Percy Wornom, and Lorrimer Proctor maintained the roadbed for their own use and for the use of other members of the family living or visiting in the subdivision. The alley was also used for vehicular and pedestrian travel by garbage collectors, patrons and employees of the country club, and other strangers.
Mr. Proctor testified that he had always used the alley across lots 1 and 2 as a means of access from Boxwood Street to his garage located behind his residence on lot 3. He had done so on a daily basis since the alley was opened in 1934. He had sought and received no express permission from his father-in-law or other owners of lot 2 and had encountered no hindrance until 1978 when Martin erected a fence across the alley where he planned to install a swimming pool. Mrs. Proctor said that she "never had any agreements with [her] dad, or anybody" concerning use of the alley. In response to a question on cross-examination, however, she acknowledged that she "knew that [she] had his permission to use it". Virginia Wornom Shockley and Dorothy D. Wornom, Martin's predecessors in title, testified to similar effect.
The alley east of lot 3 had been blocked at several points, and the Proctors, who had acquired lot 1 as well as lot 3, claimed an easement only where the alley crossed lot 2.
Martin first became interested in acquiring lot 2 while it was still owned by Percy Wornom. Martin testified that Percy told him that the lot "goes back to the golf course" and that "he was letting [Mr. Proctor] use [the alley] because he was married to his sister." After Martin purchased the lot in 1978, he had a conversation with Mr. Proctor who said, "Friend Martin, I hope you'll continue to let me drive through back here." Martin "offered to spend Eight Hundred Dollars to give the man a driveway" from Old Point Avenue to his garage, but because this would have required removal of several trees, the Proctors refused and filed suit claiming an easement in the alley across Martin's lot and seeking injunctive relief.
The commissioner reported that "the evidence sustains the establishment of a right-of-way by prescription", the chancellor overruled exceptions to the report and entered a decree in favor of the Proctors, and we granted Martin an appeal.
[1-2] To acquire a prescriptive easement, a claimant must prove that his use was, inter alia, made under a claim of right. Proof of other characteristics of the use may suffice to raise a presumption of claim of right, but that presumption is rebuttable, and proof that the use was permissive defeats the claim.
In order to establish a private right of way over the lands of another by prescription it must appear that the use of the roadway by the claimant was adverse, under claim of right, exclusive, continuous, uninterrupted, and with knowledge and acquiescence of the owner of the land over which it passes, and that such use has continued for a period of at least twenty years. [Citations omitted].
We have said many times that "Where there has been an open, visible, continuous and unmolested use of a road across the land of another for at least twenty years, the use will be presumed to be under claim of right, and places upon the owner of the servient estate the burden of rebutting this presumption by showing that the use was permissive, and not under a claim of right." [Citations omitted].
Craig v. Kennedy, 202 Va. 654, 657-58, 119 S.E.2d 320, 322-23 (1961).
When the use originates by permission, it is presumed to continue with permission unless the conduct of the user is sufficient to apprise the owner of the servient tenement that the user is asserting a claim adverse and hostile to his rights.
An easement will not arise by prescription simply from permission of the owner of the servient estate, no matter how long the permissive use may continue. [Citations omitted]. And having begun by permission, it will, in the absence of some decisive act on the part of the owner of the dominant estate indicating an adverse and hostile claim, continue to be regarded as permissive, especially when the latter's use of the easement is in common with its use by others. [Citations omitted].
Witt v. Creasey, 117 Va. 872, 876, 86 S.E. 128, 129 (1915).
Absent such a decisive act on the part of a neighbor using a road opened by a landowner for his own use, the neighbor can never acquire a prescriptive easement.
We believe it to be perfectly well settled that where the owner of land opens a way thereon for his own use and convenience, the mere use by his neighbor under circumstances which neither injures the way nor interferes with the owner's use of it, in the absence of some other circumstances indicating a claim of right, will not be considered as adverse, and will never ripen into a prescriptive right. In order to ripen into a prescriptive right, the claim to the use of the way must be adverse — that is, not accorded as a mere accommodation, but asserted under a claim of right hostile to the rights of the owner of the servient estate, so as to expose the claimant to an action if his claim is not well founded. If it be fairly shown that the use is permissive in its inception, it will never by mere lapse of time ripen into a hostile right.
Wall v. Landman, 152 Va. 889, 895, 148 S.E. 779, 781 (1929) (citations omitted), quoted with approval in Eagle Lodge v. Hofmeyer, 193 Va. 864, 878, 71 S.E.2d 195, 203 (1952).
[4-5] Applying the rules in these cases to the facts in evidence, we consider first whether the Proctors acquired a prescriptive easement while lot 2 was owned by W. C. Wornom. Prior to Wornom's death, the Proctors' use of the alley was "open, visible, continuous and unmolested" for 21 years, and under the rule in Craig, such use raises a presumption of claim of right. But the presumption is effectively overcome by what we consider conclusive proof that the use began and continued throughout with permission implied in law. The alley was opened by the owner of lot 2 for the benefit of his children and "for his own use and convenience". Wall v. Landman, supra. The alley was used by the family "in common with its use by others." Witt v. Creasey. supra. Wornom was Mrs. Proctor's father, and use by a child of land owned by its parent is regarded as permissive, absent "some 'clear, definite, or unequivocal notice' of the child's intention to assert exclusive ownership." McIntosh v. Fire Company, 220 Va. 553, 557, 260 S.E.2d 457, 460 (1979) (adverse possession) (quoting Edmunds v. Pike, 136 Va. 270, 274, 118 S.E. 91, 92 (1923)). And the record reveals no evidence whatever that the Proctors' use of the alley was sufficient to notify Wornom that they were asserting a claim adverse and hostile to his rights.
Accordingly, we hold that the Proctors' use during Wornom's lifetime was insufficient to support their claim.
Nor do we believe the Proctors acquired a prescriptive easement in the period following Wornom's death. Although they used the alley across lot 2 continuously for another 23 years before Martin erected the fence, the use was permissive in its inception and, since there was no evidence of any "decisive act on the part of the [Proctors] indicating an adverse and hostile claim", Witt v. Creasey, supra, it remained permissive. During this period, lot 2 was owned by Marion Proctor's sister and, later, by her brother and sister-in-law. Without proof to the contrary, use of an easement is not considered "adverse" when made "by near relatives who were on friendly terms". Markham v. Hall, 215 Va. 683, 693, 212 S.E.2d 302, 308 (1975). Here, there is no proof to support a contrary conclusion.
We hold, therefore, that the commissioner's finding and the chancellor's ruling are contrary to the evidence, and we will reverse the decree and enter final judgment for Martin.
Reversed and final judgment.