Opinion
SOPSC-RE-2022-022
01-05-2023
MARK COFFEY and JAMIE COFFEY Plaintiffs v. PATRICIA A. MCDONALD, ROBERT D. MILLEDGE and CATHERINE J. MILLEDGE, DAVID DUPUIS, MICHAEL KENNEY, and TOWN OF RUMFORD Defendants and FRANKLIN SAVINGS BANK Party-in-Interest
ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST DEFENDANTS
Title to Real Estate is Involved
This is an action brought to establish legal rights to access Plaintiffs' property over the Mountain View Annex Road. Plaintiffs are the owners of property located at 703 Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine ("Plaintiffs' Property") as depicted on the Town of Rumford Tax Map 218, Lot 3 and Exhibits A and B attached hereto. Plaintiffs' Property is more particularly described in a deed dated January 5, 2023, and recorded in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 5735, Page 621; a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit C. Formerly, Mountain View Annex Road (the "Road") was a public county road for its entire length. In 1938 and 1940, the last 7,275 feet of the Road was discontinued with no reservation of public rights. In 1951, approximately one mile of the Road was discontinued from the previous discontinuance with the Town reserving a Private Way, which provides for public easement rights from the currently public section of Mountain View Annex Road across Mountain View Annex Road as depicted in Exhibits A and B attached hereto, to Plaintiffs' Property. Various owners along the road, including Plaintiffs' predecessors-in-title and the Town, have used the road since its discontinuance to access their Property. Between the public section of Mountain View Annex Road and the Plaintiffs' Property, Mountain View Annex Road is owned by the abutter Defendants and subject to a public easement reserved by the Town of Rumford as a part of the 1951 discontinuance of the portion of Mountain View Annex between the end of the public section of Mountain View Annex Road and Plaintiffs' Property. (The section between the public portion of Mountain View Annex Road up to and including the Plaintiffs' Property is referred to as the "Private Section"). Defendants are all of the owners of properties that abut the Private Section (except a parcel is owned by Paul C. Baker, who executed an easement in favor of Plaintiffs and therefore is not a party to this suit).
This matter having come before the Court on a Motion for Default Judgment or, in the alternative, Summary Judgment by Plaintiffs, and the Court having considered the memoranda and supporting materials in support thereof and without opposition having been filed, it is hereby ORDERED as follows:
1. It is ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment, or in the alternative Summary Judgment, is GRANTED. The Court hereby declares that Plaintiffs have a right of access to the full length of their Property over Mountain View Annex Road and specifically the Private Section by virtue of Private Way rights of a public easement and/or prescriptive rights.
2. Plaintiffs and their predecessors-in-title have utilized the Private Section to access their Property continuously for at least twenty years, under a claim of right adverse to the owner, with the owner's knowledge and acquiescence, or with a use so open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted that knowledge and acquiescence will be presumed.
3. There exists over all or a portion of the Private Section a public easement which provides access to the Plaintiffs' Property and others over the Private Section. To the extent that the exact terminus of the public easement terminates short of Plaintiffs' Property or otherwise does not give Plaintiffs access to the full length of their Property, then Plaintiffs have such access by an easement by prescription.
4. As a result of the activity described in the preceding paragraphs, Plaintiffs and their predecessors in title have acquired a prescriptive easement over any section of Mountain View Annex Road between the public portion and their Property that is not benefited by the Public Way easement.
5. The following provisions are set forth pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. §2401:
a. The names and addresses, if known, of all parties to the action, including the counsel of record:
Name and Address of Party: Name and Address of Counsel:
| Mark Coffey and Jamie Coffey 45 Depot Road Yarmouth, Maine 04096 Plaintiffs | Andrew W. Sparks, Esq. DRUMMOND & DRUMMOND, LLP One Monument Way Portland, Maine 04101 |
| Patricia A. McDonald 338 Mountain View Annex Road Rumford, Maine 04276 Defendant | None entered |
| Robert D. Milledge and Catherine J. Milledge 105 Wyman Hill Road Rumford, Maine 04276 Defendants | None entered |
| David Dupuis 322 Andover Road Rumford, Maine 04276 Defendant | None entered |
| Michael Kenney 338 Mountain View Annex Road Rumford, Maine 04276 Defendant | None entered |
| Town of Rumford 145 Congress Street Rumford, Maine 04276 Defendant | Jennifer F. Kreckel, Esq. KRECKEL LAW, P.A. 95 Congress Street/ P.O. Drawer L Rumford, Maine 04276 |
| Franklin Savings Bank 130 Oak Street, Suite 9 Ellsworth, Maine 04605 Party-in-Interest | None entered |
b. The docket number is SOPSC-RE-2022-022.
c. The Court finds that all parties have received notice of the proceeding in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure.
6. Defendant Patricia A. McDonald is the owner of property located at 338 Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine, identified as Lot 2 on Map 217 of the Town of Rumford tax maps, pursuant to a deed from Eva Povelite to Patricia McDonald recorded on September 18, 2001 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 2998, Page 238. Defendants Robert D. Milledge and Catherine J. Milledge are the owners of properly located on Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine, identified as Lot 7 on Map 218 on the Town of Rumford tax maps, pursuant to a deed from Ray Thurston to Milledge recorded on July 5, 1979 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 1041, Page 53. Defendant David Dupuis is the owner of property located on Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine, identified as Lot 5 on Map 218 on the Town of Rumford tax maps, pursuant to a deed from Marsha McKenna and Brenda Longway to Dupuis recorded on October 31, 2018 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 5440, Page 83. Party-in-Interest Franklin Savings Bank has a mortgage on the Dupuis property recoded on October 31, 2018 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 5440, Page 87. Defendant Michael Kenney is the owner of property located at 338 Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine, identified as Lot 6 on Map 218 on the Town of Rumford tax maps, pursuant to a deed from Eva Povelite to Kenney recorded on November 30, 1998 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 2638, Page 185, Defendant Town of Rumford is the owner of property located on Mountain View Annex Road in Rumford, Maine, identified as Lot 2 on Map 218 on the Town of Rumford tax maps, pursuant to a deed from Christie Mahoney to Rumford recorded on January 23, 1981 in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds at Book 1106, Page 113.
7. Plaintiffs are responsible for recording the attested copy of the judgment and for paying the appropriate recording fees upon entry of a final judgment in this action.
CERTIFICATE OF CLERK
The final judgment in case SOPSC-RE-2022-022 was entered on the docket on___, 2023.
I hereby certify that:
___the applicable appeal period has expired without action.
__ the final judgment has been entered after remand following appeal.
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WARRANTY DEED
MAINE STATUTORY SHORT FORM
DLN:1002340223478
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that I, Michael S. Shaw, of 703 Mountain View Annex Road, Rumford, ME 04276, for consideration paid, grant to Mark Coffey and Jamie Coffey, of 45 Depot Road, Yarmouth, ME 04096, as joint tenants, with WARRANTY COVENANTS, the following described real property:
See attached Exhibit A
For title of Grantor, reference is hereby made to a deed from Jordan L. Haddock to Michael S, Shaw dated July 29, 2021 and recorded in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds in Book 5626, Page 119, Witness my hand this 5 day of January, 2023.
Personally appeared the above-named Michael S. Shaw and acknowledged the foregoing to be his free act and deed.
EXHIBIT A
A certain lot or parcel of land together with the buildings and improvements thereon, situated in the Town of Rumford, County of Oxford and State of Maine, situated in that part of Rumford known as Franklin Annex, now known as Mountain View Annex, and being a part of the Patrick Thornton Farm as deeded to Julia F. McCarthy by the Dunton Land Company, said portion of said Patrick Thornton Farm hereby conveyed being described as follows:
Being that portion of the said Patrick Thornton Farm situated between the highway and the brook, and bounded on the East by the farm formerly owned by Angus Gillis, now or formerly said to be owned by John Gillis; on the West by land formerly owned by James Morse, now or formerly said to be owned by Frank Gostinger.