Opinion
No. 4288.
Argued March 4, 1954.
Decided April 21, 1954.
A certain connecting way across the land of the defendants used by the plaintiff and the general public continuously without interruption for twenty years under a claim of right without permission of the defendants was properly found to be a public highway by prescription.
To establish a public way by prescription the plaintiff was not required to prove that the use by the general public was under a verbal claim of right. A public way may not be extinguished by adverse use.
The defendants were not entitled as a matter of law to damages for the reasonable cutting of small trees and brush on their land to render a public way suitable for passage.
The plaintiff was entitled to maintain private proceedings to enjoin interference with its use of a public way where special injury was suffered.
The damages awarded for trespass in changing the course of an established highway over the defendants' land were not inadequate as a matter of law where certain elements of damage claimed were remote and incapable of ascertainment.
BILL IN EQUITY, for an injunction against interference with the plaintiff's use for access to land owned by it of a highway in Litchfield passing over four tracts of land owned severally by the defendants. One defendant was defaulted; the others answered, seeking dismissal of the bill and damages for trespass.
Trial by the Court, Leahy, J., with a view. Decree making permanent a temporary injunction against interference with the plaintiff's use, and awarding damages to the defendant Labrie in the sum of one hundred dollars.
The defendants' exceptions to certain findings and rulings, to the denial of requested findings, and to the decree making the injunction permanent were reserved and transferred by the Presiding Justice. The Court's findings establish the following facts: "The road in controversy has its origin at a point on the east side of the main highway running northerly and southerly through the town of Litchfield. It goes over a portion of the land of the defendant Levesque, cuts a corner of land of one Hammond and runs along a portion of the land of the defendant Labrie, turning southeasterly on to land of the defendant Lapin, and then northerly and easterly back on to the Labrie land and thence to land of the petitioner."
The Court further found and ruled "on all the evidence that from a period beginning in 1890 and continuing for more than twenty consecutive years the public used the road above described as a public highway under a claim of right and that a prescriptive right was established in the public to use said road as a public highway." Other facts are stated in the opinion.
Clancy O'Neill (Mr. Clancy orally), for the plaintiff.
J. Leonard KillKelley for the defendant Labrie.
Leonard G. Velishka for the defendant Lapin.
J. Leonard Sweeney and Robert H. Temple for the defendant Levesque; Mr. Temple orally, for all defendants.
There was evidence to warrant the finding and ruling of the Trial Court that the way was a public highway by prescription. "To establish a highway by prescription it must appear that the way was used by the general public continuously without interruption for a period of twenty years [R. L., c. 90, pt. 1, s. 1, as inserted by Laws 1945, c. 188] under a claim of right without the permission of the owner." Wason v. Nashua, 85 N.H. 192, 198; Windham v. Jubinville, 92 N.H. 102; Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318. The road was a well defined road which provided access from one main road to another and connected with a road to Half Moon Pond. It had been used at various times for access to a brickyard, a sawmill and a slaughterhouse, and to haul logs, lumber, sawdust, hay and ice. Fishermen, hunters and berry pickers used it as well as property owners and others in their right. It could be found the use made was a public use, and no "claim of right in words, or a declaration that the use [was] adverse" was required. Smith v. Putnam, 62 N.H. 369, 372. See also, Gowen v. Swain, 90 N.H. 383. 4 Tiffany, Real Property, (3d ed.) s. 1214; Jean v. Arsenault, 85 N.H. 72. Cf. 4 Tiffany, supra, s. 1197. The burden of showing that the use was permissive was cast upon the defendants (Gowen v. Swain, supra) and that fact was not conclusively established.
The Court found that gates and bars which existed at some time prior to interruption of the use by the defendants "were present for the purpose of containing cattle and other animals in their respective pasturing areas and not to bar the public from use of the road." This was a permissible finding upon the evidence and not inconsistent with the ruling that a prescriptive right was acquired by the public. Windham v. Jubinville, supra; R. L., c. 90, supra, pt. 5, s. 18.
A public way may not be extinguished by adverse use (Windham v. Jubinville, supra, 104), and the Court's finding that "the prescriptive right had been established prior to [the] time" of "extraction of payment by the defendant Lapin for use of the road traversing the Lapin property" disposes of the claim that the conduct referred to constituted an interruption of the required period of use. Blake v. Hickey, supra, 321.
The finding that "the cutting of small trees and brush along the sides of the highway by the concern trucking the logs was . . . required . . . to render it suitable for passage" justified the Court's refusal to award the defendants damages on account of the cutting. State v. Morse, 50 N.H. 9, 20. See also, Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318, 321, supra; Hoban v. Bucklin, 88 N.H. 73, 79.
The fact that the plaintiff by a deed which it gave in 1888 to a predecessor in title of the defendant Labrie had reserved a right of way to itself and its agents to go "on over and across said . . . premises as they may deem necessary" does not preclude assertion of its claim to use the highway in question as a member of the public, since it appeared that the way reserved followed another course. The fact that both ways crossed the same property, or that they coincided at some point, if they did, cannot diminish the plaintiff's rights. See 3 Tiffany supra, ss. 821, 823.
The plaintiff suffered special injury and is therefore entitled to maintain its private action. Smith v. Putnam, 62 N.H. 369, 373, supra. Cf. Currier v. Davis, 68 N.H. 596.
The exception of the defendant Labrie to the inadequacy of the damages awarded him presents no question of law. The damages awarded were for trespass in changing the course of the established highway over his land. The Court properly found and ruled that other damages sought were "remote and uncertain of ascertainment as the contemplated undertaking [to raise cucumbers] was never even started." The claims of the two other defendants with respect to trespass turn upon the right of the plaintiff to make the highway suitable for passage, and are disposed of by the finding that the cutting was necessary for this purpose. The findings, rulings, and decree are sustained.
Exceptions overruled.
All concurred.