Town of Granville and Green Crow Corporation, Inc. v. Joseph Loprete, 178 A.3d 1013

In 2008 Granville created an Ancient Roads Committee to identify historic public highways under the Ancient Roads Act; Sabin Homestead Road was recommended and added to the Town Highway Map in 2009 and appears on the VTrans map.
Sabin Homestead Road crosses defendant’s land for ~100 feet; in 2012 defendant blocked the road with a storage container and refused to remove it.
Plaintiffs sued for declaratory relief seeking a ruling that Sabin Homestead Road is an existing town highway established in 1850 under the statutory procedures then in effect (survey recorded, formal selectboard act, certificate of opening).
No certificate of opening could be located in the town records; the Town produced two affidavits explaining missing records (records historically kept in private homes, moved, and possibly purged) and documenting searches that found surveys and selectboard actions but no certificates for pre-1877 roads.
The trial court concluded the Town’s circumstantial evidence supported a finding that a certificate of opening had been created and later lost, and granted summary judgment for the Town.
On appeal the defendant argued the Town failed to prove the certificate once existed and that Kirkland requires proof that a record once existed and cannot be produced; the Town relied in part on 19 V.S.A. § 717(a) (absence of certificate not dispositive).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Town must produce a certificate of opening to prove an 1850 road was properly laid out	Town: § 717(a) means lack of a certificate is not fatal; proof may be otherwise	Defendant: Town must show the certificate once existed and explain its absence per Kirkland	Held: § 717(a) removes the requirement to produce or prove prior existence of a certificate; absence alone is not fatal
Whether circumstantial evidence and affidavits suffice to show proper creation	Town: affidavits + records of surveys/selectboard actions suffice	Defendant: affidavits are speculative and rely on presumption of regularity	Held: Court affirmed on alternate statutory ground (§ 717(a)), finding Town met its burden
Whether Kirkland controls proof when certificates are missing	Town: Kirkland doesn't address § 717(a) and is distinguishable	Defendant: Kirkland requires showing records once existed and are lost	Held: Kirkland does not require proof of a certificate’s prior existence where § 717(a) applies
Whether summary judgment was appropriate	Town: undisputed facts entitled Town to judgment as a matter of law	Defendant: genuine dispute remains about existence of certificate and authenticity of affidavits	Held: Affirmed summary judgment for Town on statutory grounds (no certificate required to defeat claim)

Kirkland v. Kolodziej, 128 A.3d 407 (Vt. 2015) (discusses evidentiary proof of documents and when parol evidence may be admissible for road-creation records)
In re Petition of Mattison, 144 A.2d 778 (Vt. 1958) (statutory requirements for laying out or discontinuing highways)
Tarrant v. Dep’t of Taxes, 733 A.2d 733 (Vt. 1999) (plain statutory-language construction principles)
State v. Yorkey, 657 A.2d 1079 (Vt. 1995) (avoid construing statutes to render them meaningless)