Letica Land Co. v. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, 362 P.3d 614

Modesty Creek Road has two disputed branches (lower and upper) crossing private parcels owned by Letica Land Co., LLC and Don McGee; the lower branch begins at Spring Gulch Road and the upper branch continues into National Forest lands.
1889 Deer Lodge County commission minutes describe a petition, viewers’ report, and a June 1889 declaration accepting Modesty Creek Road as a public highway; an 1896 county map also shows the lower branch.
The road crossed federal land until 1937; private ownership followed and public use continued until the early 1980s, when owners installed locked gates (orange and green) and a culvert was removed, restricting access.
In 2012 the county voted to reaffirm both branches as county roads; Letica and McGee sued for declaratory and injunctive relief and the district court held a bench trial on whether the lower branch was statutorily created and whether a public prescriptive easement existed on the upper branch.
The district court found the lower branch was a statutorily created county road ending in Section 22, T6N R11W, and that the public held a prescriptive easement on the upper branch; the court denied that reverse adverse possession extinguished that easement.
The Supreme Court affirmed the lower-branch ruling, reversed the upper-branch ruling (holding reverse adverse possession extinguished the prescriptive easement), and remanded for entry of an amended judgment and further consideration of Letica’s takings claim.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Did the record taken as a whole show the County statutorily created the lower branch of Modesty Creek Road?	Letica/McGee: County records are incomplete; a June 1889 condition (petitioners bear expense) was unmet and later maps show no road, so the record fails to establish creation or shows the road ends earlier.	County: 1889 minutes, 1896 map, historical maps, mining activity, and witness testimony together satisfy the “record taken as a whole” standard that the road was created by petition.	Affirmed: Substantial credible evidence in the whole record establishes the lower branch was statutorily created and terminates in Section 22, T6N R11W.
Whether the public holds a prescriptive easement across the upper branch, and if so whether it was extinguished by reverse adverse possession	Letica/McGee: Even if a prescriptive easement existed, locked gates, removal of a culvert, and long-term permissive restrictions by owners and public/county conduct extinguished it by reverse adverse possession.	County: The public acquired a prescriptive easement and the lower-branch statutory status prevents reverse adverse possession from extinguishing public rights to the upper branch.	Reversed in part: Assuming a prescriptive easement existed, the court held reverse adverse possession (30 years of locked gates, culvert removal, and public/county acquiescence) extinguished the public easement on the upper branch.

Reid v. Park County, 192 Mont. 231, 627 P.2d 1210 (adopted “record taken as a whole” standard for proving statutory road creation)
Jefferson County v. McCauley Ranches, Ltd. Liab. P’ship, 297 Mont. 392, 994 P.2d 11 (substantial credible evidence standard for public road determinations)
Boone & Crockett Club Found., Inc. v. Pub. Lands Access Ass’n, Inc., 259 Mont. 279, 856 P.2d 525 (reverse adverse possession can extinguish a public prescriptive easement)
Dome Mt. Ranch, LLC v. Park County, 307 Mont. 420, 37 P.3d 710 (acquiescence to locked gates over long period can extinguish public prescriptive rights)
Galassi v. Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, 318 Mont. 288, 80 P.3d 84 (courts may rely on non-county evidence and witness testimony in the whole-record analysis)
McCauley v. Thompson-Nistler, 301 Mont. 81, 10 P.3d 794 (public statutory roads generally cannot be taken by adverse possession)
Sayers v. Chouteau County, 369 Mont. 98, 297 P.3d 312 (reiterating flexibility of whole-record standard for historic road claims)