Robert F. ALMEDER et al. v. TOWN OF KENNEBUNKPORT et al.
Docket No. Yor-12-599.
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.
Argued: Nov. 19, 2013. Decided: Feb. 4, 2014. Reargued: April 9, 2014. Reissued: Dec. 9, 2014.
2014 ME 139 | 106 A.3d 1099
Christopher E. Pazar, Esq., Drummond & Drummond, Portland, for appellants Janice M. Fleming, Terrence G. O‘Connor, and Joan M. Leahy.
Amy K. Tchao, Esq. (orally), Melissa A. Hewey, Esq., Brian D. Willing, Esq., and David M. Kallin, Esq., Drummond Woodsum, Portland, for appellee Town of Kennebunkport.
Andre G. Duchette, Esq. (orally), and Gregg R. Frame, Esq., Taylor, McCormack & Frame, LLC, Portland, for appellees “TMF Defendants.”
Richard J. Driver, Margarete M.K. Driver, Alexander M. Lachiatto, and Judith A. Lachiatto, pro se appellees.
Adam Steinman, Esq., Cape Elizabeth, for appellee Surfrider Foundation.
Janet T. Mills, Attorney General, and Paul Stern, Dep. Atty. Gen. (orally), Office of Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee State of Maine.
John A. Cunningham, Esq., and Noreen A. Patient, Esq., Eaton Peabody, Brunswick, for amicus curiae Maine Forest Products Council.
Brian P. Winchester, Esq., Augusta, for amicus curiae Maine Snowmobile Association.
Ivy L. Frignoca, Esq., Portland, for amicus curiae Conservation Law Foundation.
Sydney St. F. Thaxter, Esq. argued, for all appellants.
Amy K. Tchao, Esq. argued, for appellee Town of Kennebunkport.
Andre G. Duchette, Esq. argued, for appellee “TMF Defendants.”
Paul Stern, Dep. Atty. Gen. argued, for appellee State of Maine.
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, SILVER, MEAD, GORMAN, and JABAR, JJ.*
GORMAN, J.
[¶ 1] Robert F. Almeder and twenty-eight other owners of property fronting Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport (the Beachfront Owners) appeal from a decision of the Superior Court (York County, Brennan, J.) awarding the public a recreational easement over both the intertidal and dry sand portions of the Beach. The Beachfront Owners argue that the court erred in (1) permitting the State and neighboring landowners to intervene, (2) awarding а prescriptive easement and an easement by custom to the public users of the beach, and (3) determining that the public had rights concerning the intertidal zone of the Beach pursuant to the public trust doctrine. The State cross-appeals,1 arguing that the court erred in limiting the activi-
I. BACKGROUND
[¶ 2] Goose Rocks Beach is a two-mile stretch of beach located in Kennebunkport.2 There are 110 parcels of property directly abutting the Beach owned by ninety-five separate owners. Nine of the lots are owned by either the Town or the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. The Beach has five public access points and 173 public parking spaces on two abutting roads.
[¶ 3] In October of 2009, the Beachfront Owners3 initiаted proceedings in the Superior Court against the Town and all others who claimed any title or right to use the Beach. Each Beachfront Owner sought (1) a declaratory judgment affirming his or her ownership and exclusive right to use that portion of the Beach abutting his or her parcel down to the mean low-water mark, “subject only to the public rights of usage in the Intertidal Property established by the Colonial Ordinance of 1647,” and (2) to quiet title to his or her claimed Beach property.
[¶ 4] The Town asserted nine counterclaims alleging its ownership of the Beach and the public‘s right to use the Beach. Approximately 200 owners of property located in the Town‘s Goose Rocks Zone, but not directly on the Beach (the Backlot Owners), also intervened and filed counterclaims.4 Finally, the State intervened as a defendant to represent the public‘s interest in its use of the intertidal zone pursuant to the public trust doctrine, but did not assert any of its own causes of action. In all, the various parties asserted some sixty-three causes of action; by the time of trial, only sixteen of these remained for decision.5
[¶ 5] With the agreement of the parties, the court scheduled a bifurcated trial to first address the use-related claims that were still pending, and saved for the second portion of trial those claims related to title. In August and September of 2012, the court heard the first portion of the matter in a two-week trial during which sixty-six witnesses testified. The causes of
[¶ 6] By partial judgment dated October 16, 2012, the court made the following findings of fact.7 In colonial times, the Beach was used as a public highway as well as for harvesting seaweed, clamming, driving livestock, and providing access to marshland for cutting hay. Starting in the 1800s, the Beach became a popular tourist destination, resulting in the construction of hotels and guesthouses, a bowling alley, a casino, shops, restaurants, and “auto-trailer” camps on the land abutting the Beach. The court found that from the late 1800s through the 1940s, the Beach was used “fоr a full range of recreational activities, including walking, swimming, sun bathing and a variety of beach related games.” After a fire swept through the area in 1947, the rebuilt properties around the Beach had a more residential and less commercial character, but the Beach was still used for recreational activities.
[¶ 7] The Town began imposing regulations on the use of the Beach in the 1700s, including some regarding livestock, clamming, and seaweed harvesting. More recently, the Town has established regulations concerning dogs and fires on the Beach and parking near the Beach. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the Town provided lifeguard service for the Beach; the life-guard stand was located near the “public” part of the Beach, but the lifeguards patrolled the full length of the Beach and gave swimming lessons to the general public. In 1994, the Town discontinued the lifeguard service and “replaced it with a police officer dedicated to serve the Beach.” The Town has also used its funds to promote the Beach to tourists and to provide bus service to and supervision for children at the Beach during the summers. The court found that “from the early 1900[s] the Town has consistently encouraged and facilitated the use of the Beach by the general public.”
[¶ 8] The court found that “while people tended to use the area in front of their own properties or near a public access point most frequently, nearly all used the Beach ‘from river to river’ frequently depending on what activity was being undertaken at the time.” Although the use of the Beach is most intense in the areas of the Beach owned by the Town, people regularly use the full length of the Beach year-round to walk, play in tidal pools, collect sand dollars, play softball, ride horses, and cross-country ski, and to access the water for boating, water-skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, snorkeling, rafting, paddleboarding, and tubing.
[¶ 9] Beachgoers have not asked the Beachfront Owners for permission to use the Beach for these general recreational purposes because they felt they had a right to use the Beach for such purposes. They have asked permission from the relevant Beachfront Owners for activities beyond “ordinary beach type recreational uses,” however, such as storing boats on
[¶ 10] The Beachfront Owners have requested that beachgoers leave the property when beachgoers were drinking alcohol or engaging in lоud, disruptive, or potentially dangerous activities. Rarely has a Beachfront Owner otherwise ever requested that a beachgoer “move along.” Testimony indicated that it would be impractical to ask beachgoers engaged in ordinary recreational activity to leave.
[¶ 11] Although several Beachfront Owners have, in recent years, posted ‘no trespassing’ signs around their properties, the signs were intended to keep people off of the Beachfront Owners’ landscaped property and private access ways rather than any portion of the sand itself. As to the wet or dry sand portions of the Beach, the court found that beachgoers would have ignored the signs and continued to use the Beach as they always had. Many of the Beachfront Owners also have offеred their homes for rent, and have not given their tenants any instructions that limit their use of the Beach.
[¶ 12] On these facts, the court determined that the Town, the Backlot Owners, and the public enjoy a public prescriptive easement as well as an easement by custom to engage in general recreational activities on both the wet and dry sand portions of the entire Beach.8 The court also found that the State had established, pursuant to the public trust doctrine, that the public‘s right to fish, fowl, and navigate includes the right to cross the intertidal zone of the Beach to engage in all “ocean-based” activities, which it defined as such “waterborne activities as jet-skiing; water-skiing; knee-boarding or tubing; surfing; windsurfing; boogie boarding; rafting; tubing; paddleboarding; and snorkeling,” but not including “swimming, bathing or wading; walking; picnicking or playing games.” The cоurt denied the Beachfront Owners’ motion for additional findings of fact and conclusions of law. See
[¶ 13] The court granted the Town‘s, the TMF Defendants‘, and the State‘s motions for entry of a final judgment pursuant to
II. DISCUSSION
[¶ 14] The Beachfront Owners challenge the Superior Court‘s award to the Town, the public, and the Backlot Owners of an easement over both the wet and dry sand portions of the entirety of Goose Rocks Beach pursuant to theories of prescription and custom, and its articulation of the extent of the public trust rights in the intertidal zone. In its cross-appeal, the State contends that the court erred in limiting the scope of the activities allowed in the intertidal zone. We first address two threshold issues—the finality of the judgment and standing.
1. Entry of a Final Judgment
[¶ 15] The first preliminary issue is whether the court erred in entering a final judgment pursuant to
- The relationship of the adjudicated and unadjudicated claims;
- The possibility that the need for review may be mooted by future developments in the trial court;
- The chance that the same issues will be presented to us more than once;
- The extent to which an immediate appeal might expedite or delay the trial court‘s work;
- The nature of the legal questions presented as close or clear;
- The economic effects of both the appeal and any delays on all of the parties, including the parties to the appeal and other parties awaiting adjudication of unresolved claims; and
- Miscellaneous factors such as solvency considerations, the res judicata or collateral estoppel effect of a final judgment and the like.
Marquis v. Town of Kennebunk, 2011 ME 128, ¶ 13, 36 A.3d 861 (alteration omitted) (quotation marks omitted). With particular emphasis on the first, fourth, and sixth factors listed above, we note the extraordinary circumstances of this case, which already has cost the parties and the taxpayers substantial time and resources. We discern no abuse of discretion in the court‘s entry of a final judgment as to the parties’ use claims pursuant to Rule 54(b). See Marquis, 2011 ME 128, ¶¶ 12-13, 36 A.3d 861. Therefore, we address the court‘s decision on its merits.
2. Intervention of the Backlot Owners
[¶ 16] The second threshold issue is the standing of the Backlot Owners, whom the Beachfront Owners contend were not proper parties to the litigation. The Backlot Owners moved to intervene pursuant to
claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant‘s ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant‘s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.
their location [in relation] to the beach, their treatment of the beach as if it were their оwn, their ability to access the beach without permits (parking), their ability to rent their homes based on their proximity to the beach, their inflated tax assessed values based on their location and their ability to access the beach through various public and private rights of way.
[¶ 17] Our review of the record indicates that, ultimately, the Backlot Owners’ motion to intervene was erroneously analyzed as a matter of general standing rather than as a matter of standing to intervene pursuant to Rule 24. When their motion is properly considered through the lens of Rule 24, the Backlot Owners did not, as a matter of law, meet the requirements of Rule 24, either by right or by рermission. To the extent any Backlot Owner sought a private easement over any Beachfront Owner‘s property,11 none sufficiently pleaded or proved the elements necessary to obtain an easement as to any specific parcel of Beach property, as we will discuss in further detail below. To the extent that the Backlot Owners instead sought to establish a public easement to the Beach, those rights were identical to those claimed by the public, and the Town represented those public rights. Notwithstanding their proximity to the Beach, the Backlot Owners did not demonstrate any interest in the Beach itself—as opposed to any paths leading to the Beach in which they might claim an interest—beyond that of any member of the public who has a history of using the Beach or, evеn more broadly, of any person who happens to live near a scenic location. With regard to this aspect of the litigation, the addition of the Backlot Owners served only to add to its expense and delay. We therefore conclude that the Backlot Owners are not proper parties to the litigation, and we vacate the court‘s decision permitting the Backlot Owners to intervene, as well as any relief ultimately granted to the Backlot Owners.
B. Public Easements
[¶ 18] The viability of a type of easement and the evidence required to establish that easement are matters of law we review de novo. See Androkites v. White, 2010 ME 133, ¶ 12, 10 A.3d 677. We review the facts supporting the court‘s conclusions for clear error, and will uphold the court‘s findings unless “there is no credible evidence on the record to support them or the court bases its findings of fact upon a clear misapprehension of the meaning of the evidence.” Baptist Youth Camp v. Robinson, 1998 ME 175, ¶ 7, 714 A.2d 809 (alterations omitted) (quotation marks omitted).
1. Easement by Prescription
[¶ 19] “An easement is a right of use over the property of another” that may be created by any one of several means. Stickney v. City of Saco, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 31, 770 A.2d 592. Among them,
[¶ 20] First, the claimant‘s use must be “under a claim of right adverse to
[¶ 21] Second, the claimant‘s use must be with the owner‘s knowledge and acquiescence. Androkites, 2010 ME 133, ¶ 14, 10 A.3d 677. Acquiescence is “consent by silence.” Dartnell v. Bidwell, 115 Me. 227, 230, 98 A. 743 (1916); see Stickney, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 23, 770 A.2d 592 (holding that acquiescence refers to “passive assent or submission to the use, as distinguished from the granting of a license or permission given with the intention that the licensee‘s use mаy continue only as long as the owner continues to consent to it” (quotation marks omitted)). Knowledge and acquiescence may be established either by proof of actual knowledge and acquiescence, or by proof of a use “so open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted that knowledge and acquiescence will be presumed.”13 Androkites, 2010 ME 133, ¶ 14, 10 A.3d 677; see Taylor v. Nutter, 687 A.2d 632, 635 (Me.1996). Evidence of acquiescence may be in the form of physical acts or statements, and nonacquiescence “may be evidenced by verbal protest alone.”14 Noyes v. Levine, 130 Me. 151, 152, 154 A. 78 (1931); see Dowley v. Morency, 1999 ME 137, ¶ 24, 737 A.2d 1061; Dartnell, 115 Me. at 231, 98 A. 743 (“[D]enials and remonstrances, on or off the land are sufficient to rebut acquiescence, and work an interruption.“); Rollins v. Blackden, 112 Me. 459, 467, 92 A. 521 (1914) (“[O]rdinarily the law does not require one to use force to assert his rights.” (quotation marks omitted)). Acquiescence differs from adversity in that adversity regards the actiоns of the claimant, whereas acquiescence looks to the actions of the owner. See 4 Richard R. Powell, Powell on Real Property § 34.10[3][a] & n.38, at 34-102 (Michael Allan Wolf ed., 2005).
[¶ 22] Third, a claimant must establish his continuous use of the property for at least twenty years.
[¶ 23] Central to all three of these elements regarding the nature and frequency of use is the claimant‘s burden to establish the location of the use. More particularly, in order to obtain a prescriptive easement ovеr a parcel of property, the claimant must demonstrate the requisite use of that parcel, as it is in the very nature of an equitable claim to property that persons may “typically only acquire that property which they actually possessed.” D‘Angelo v. McNutt, 2005 ME 31, ¶ 9, 868 A.2d 239; see McGeechan v. Sherwood, 2000 ME 188, ¶ 54, 760 A.2d 1068 (agreeing that the adverse use of some portion of property does not equate to adverse use of the entire property in the absence of evidence to that effect). This requirement is noteworthy when, as here, the use alleged is of a stretch of property comprising multiple parcels with multiple potential owners. See, e.g., Opinion of the Justices, 139 N.H. 82, 649 A.2d 604, 610 (1994) (“[P]rescriptive easements, by their nature, can be utilized only on a tract-by-tract basis....” (quotation marks omitted)); State ex rel. Thornton v. Hay, 254 Or. 584, 462 P.2d 671, 676 (1969) (“Strictly construed, prescription applies only to the specific tract of land before the court, and doubtful prescription cases could fill the courts for years with tract-by-tract litigation.“); 4 Richard R. Powell, Powell on Real Property § 34.11[6], at 34-129.
[¶ 24] In the instant matter, our review of the record demonstrates a lack of specific analysis or findings as to each of the Beachfront Owners’ parcels at issue. This lack of analysis or findings of use specific to each Beachfront Owner‘s parcel requires that we vacate the judgment.15
[¶ 25] Before, during, and after the trial, the Town steadfastly opposed the Beachfront Owners’ argument that a determination of any easement by prescription had to involve parcel-by-parcel evidence and findings. The Town also was successful in convincing the trial court that the claimed public prescriptive easement could be decided in the absence of a рarcel-by-parcel evidentiary record. Nevertheless, the Town now seeks an opportunity to relitigate16 its case before the Superior Court on the very parcel-by-parcel basis that it has, until now, argued is simply not required.
[¶ 26] We would not ordinarily provide an opportunity for a litigant to do what it has opposed at every turn during years of litigation. See Me. Educ. Ass‘n v. Me. Cmty. Coll. Sys. Bd. of Trs., 2007 ME 70, ¶¶ 15-20, 923 A.2d 914 (holding that a party‘s motion “seeking relief it had opposed during the original consideration of the action” is barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel, which “generally prevents a party from prevailing in one phase of a case on an argument and then relying on a contradictory argument to prevail in another phase” (quoting New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 749, 121 S.Ct. 1808, 149 L.Ed.2d 968 (2001))).
[¶ 27] We recognize, however, that the public‘s access to scarce resourcеs such as sandy beaches in Maine is a matter of great importance and extraordinary public interest. The public is obliged to rely on legal representatives to assert that interest. In this singular case, in which those representatives chose a litigation strategy that had a substantial gap, equity demands that the matter should be remanded to allow the parties to present evidence as to the location of each Beachfront Owner‘s specific parcel, and to give the court an opportunity to consider the factual record of public use already developed, so that the court can determine whether the Town established—as to each of those specific parcels of property—the elements necessary to support a declаration of a public prescriptive easement.17
[¶ 29] Moreover, because we are remanding for further consideration, we also address one of the elements necessary for a successful prescriptive easement claim—adversity. Essential to our consideration of adversity in cases involving public recreational easements is the presumption of permission. We have long recognized the rebuttable presumption that public recreational uses are undertaken with the permission of the landowner.18
[¶ 30] The presumption of permission derives from the “open lands tradition” that Maine shares with a minority of other states. Weeks v. Krysa, 2008 ME 120, ¶ 15, 955 A.2d 234; D‘Angelo, 2005 ME 31, ¶ 11, 868 A.2d 239; S.D. Warren Co., 1997 ME 161, ¶ 16, 697 A.2d 1280. This tradition recognizes the State‘s desire to encourage the hunting, hiking, and other outdoor activities for which Maine is celebrated and on which much оf Maine‘s economy is based. See Lyons, 2002 ME 137, ¶¶ 14, 27, 804 A.2d 364; see also
[¶ 31] Although we have sometimes referred to the presumption as applicable to “wild and uncultivated” land, id., the “wild and uncultivated” language has never been employed as a precise test. In 1868, for example, we held that “[t]he open and unenclosed condition of the land, a sandy, pitchpine, blueberry plain of trifling value, was a matter from which it might be presumed that the use was permissive.” Mayberry, 56 Me. at 353. We have otherwise applied the presumption to land characterized as “unposted open fields or woodlands” and “unenclosed, unimproved and unoccupied” land. Lyons, 2002 ME 137, ¶ 19, 804 A.2d 364; Forrester, 391 A.2d at 832-33 (quotation marks omitted); see Shadan, 1997 ME 187, ¶¶ 2, 7, 700 A.2d 245 (presuming permission as to an access road between homes in a subdivision).
[¶ 32] To the extent the applicability of the presumption was uncertain, we clarified in Lyons that the presumption of permission is not dependent on the type of land at issue (wild and uncultivated, for example), but instead on how the public uses the land (for recreation). 2002 ME 137, ¶¶ 20-25, 804 A.2d 364. Indeed, we and other courts specifically have applied the presumption to cases involving public recreational use of private beaches.19 See, e.g., Augusta
[¶ 33] There can be no dispute that this matter involves a claimed public recreational prescriptive easement over the entirety of the Beach. The Town specifically alleged that “the public[]...has acquired prescriptive rights in Goose Rocks Beach,” and the court found as much in awarding a right to “general recreational activities on the entirety of Goose Rocks Beach, both wet and dry sand.” Thus, this is precisely the type of matter in which Lyons requires that the presumption of permission be applied. On remand, when the court evaluates the element of adversity, it must consider whether the Town has rebutted the presumption.
[¶ 34] We reiterate that the public‘s recreational use of private land, when that use does not interfere with the ownership interest of the landowner, does not, without more, rebut the presumption of permission to establish adverse use. See Lyons, 2002 ME 137, ¶¶ 17, 26, 804 A.2d 364. Because this record contains extensive evidence of general recreational use that may not satisfy the element of adversity, it will be critically important for the court on remand to apply the presumption of permission in determining whether the evidence establishes adversity as to each Beachfront Owner‘s parcel of property.21
2. Easement by Custom
[¶ 35] We also vacate the court‘s award of an easement by custom over the Beach. Custom was developed in English common law to account for usage that “lasted from time immemorial, without interruption and as a right,” and that was “reasonable, certain, peaceably enjoyed and consistent with other customs and laws.” 4 Richard R. Powell, Powell on Real Property § 34.11[6], at 34-132 (quotation marks omitted). It is “largely a dead doctrine in the United States” because “[i]t has been argued that no American custom could have lasted long enough to be immemorial, and that we have established methods for claiming and recording rights in land” that no longer necessitate employment of the doctrine. 4 Richard R. Powell, Powell on Real Property § 34.11[6], at 34-132 (footnotes omitted). Although presented with several opportunities to do so through almost two hundred years of land use litigation, we have never recognized an easement by custom as a viable cause of action in Maine. Bell v. Town of Wells, 557 A.2d 168, 179 (Me.1989) (noting that “[t]here is a serious
C. Public Trust Doctrine
[¶ 36] Finally, notwithstanding the court‘s application of a public prescriptive easement to the intertidal zone (which we vacate) the court went on to declare separately the public‘s rights in the intertidal zone stemming from the public trust doctrine.22 That determination is premature. The Beachfront Owners’ declaratory judgment claim is the only claim to implicate the public trust, and although the Superior Court discussed in its order issues relating to the public trust doctrine, it has not yet decided that claim. In addition, as noted earlier, the State did not file a claim for a declaratory judgment or any other cause of action raising the public trust doctrine. We note also that the presumption of permission applies to the intertidal zone as well as to the dry sand for all general recreational activities.23 Thus, no claims implicating the public trust doctrine are properly before us for review.
D. Conclusion
[¶ 37] We therefore vacate the judgment awarding the Town and Backlot Owners a prescriptive easement over Goose Rocks Beach, and deciding that the public has a right to engage in ocean-based activities in the intertidal zone pursuant to the public trust doctrine. We remand the matter to the Superior Court for two tasks to be accomplished. First, the court must conduct proceedings and issue a decision on the remaining pending causes of action that were the subject of the second portion of the bifurcated trial,
The entry is:
Order granting the Backlot Owners’ right to intervene vacated. Judgment vacated. Remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Robert F. ALMEDER et al. v. TOWN OF KENNEBUNKPORT et al.
Docket No. Yor-12-599.
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.
Decided: Dec. 9, 2014.
Notes
Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2) of this subdivision and in Rule 80(d), when more than one claim for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, or when multiple parties are involved, the court may direct the entry of a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims or parties only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of judgment.