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Otto W. Kaatz vs. Philip J. Curtis & another

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court1913-06-18
215 Mass. 311

Summary

Holding. The decree is affirmed. The recorded plan became incorporated into both the plaintiff's and defendant's title instruments, fixing the location of the private way called John Street, and the defendant is estopped from denying the location so established by the original owner; the master's finding that public use had not ripened into a public easement by prescription is supported by the record.

John Colby owned a large tract of land in Lawrence that he subdivided into building lots, creating and recording plans of the property. Upon his death in 1908, Colby's will devised two lots to Christine Curtis (the defendant), while the executor later conveyed different lots numbered 150 and 161 to Otto Kaatz (the plaintiff), both conveyances referencing the same recorded plan. The central dispute concerned the location and ownership of John Street, a private way shown on the plan. The master found that both parties took title according to the plan's description, and that the defendant was estopped from denying the street's location as originally established by Colby. The defendant argued that public use of the street had created a public easement through prescription, but the master found that such use had not ripened into a legal right of way.

The court held that when a deed or devise references a recorded plan, the plan becomes incorporated into the instrument and fixes the location and dimensions of features like private ways between the parties. Because Colby, as original owner of the entire tract, defined John Street's location on the plan, the defendant could not dispute that location in a dispute with the plaintiff. The court rejected the defendant's prescription argument, accepting the master's finding that public travel on the street had not created a public right of way. The plaintiff therefore retained rights to use and maintain the private way as depicted on the original plan.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Incorporation of recorded plans into property deed descriptions
  • Estoppel of original owner's successor from denying way location
  • Acquisition of public easement rights by prescription versus private way rights
  • Ownership and maintenance rights in private ways between neighboring properties

Procedural posture

The case comes before the court on appeal from a final decree entered by a judge following a master's report regarding competing claims to land and rights in a private way.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

De Courcy, J.

The only question before us on this appeal from the final decree is whether the decree is within the scope of the bill and is supported by the facts found by the master. E. W. Burt & Co. v. Coes & Young Co. 212 Mass. 134. The record is not clear. The testimony of certain witnesses, referred to in the master’s report as being annexed thereto, is not in fact printed; and the same is true of some of the exhibits in the case. We can consider the printed statement of facts agreed upon by counsel only so far as it appears to embody the evidence that was before the judge whose decree is appealed from. Robinson v. Brown, 182 Mass. 266. There were objections to the master’s report, but so far as appears in the record no exceptions were filed.

The master finds the following facts: One John Colby was the owner of a large tract of land in Lawrence and attempted to dispose of it in small parcels or building lots. At different times he made plans of all and of portions of the tract, and recorded some of them. Colby died on October 22, 1908. By his last will he devised to Christine Hanson (now Christine Curtis, and herein called the defendant), “two lots of land with buildings thereon situated at the corner of Ferry and East Pleasant Street also bounded on John Street, said lots being lots ‘A’ and ‘B’ona plan of ‘Lots at Cottage Park belonging to John Colby,’ dated April, 1903, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds for the Northern District of Essex, Book 244, Page 600.” The executor of Colby’s will, under a license obtained from the Probate Court, by deed dated January 3, 1911, conveyed to the plaintiff “lots 150 and 161 on ‘Plan of Lots at Cottage Park belonging to John Colby’ which said plan being [sic] recorded in the Registry of Deeds for the North District of Essex, book 244,- page 600. Lots 150 and 161 are bounded and described as follows: southerly by John Street one hundred sixty (160) feet; westerly by East Pleasant Street forty (40) feet; northerly by land of parties unknown one hundred sixty (160) feet; and easterly by Midland Street forty (40) feet.” The master’s report specifically states: “I find that both the plaintiff and the defendants took title according to the description contained in the plan recorded in book 244. ”

By a well settled rule of construction the plan referred to became incorporated in the deed to the plaintiff and in the devise to the defendant; and the particulars appearing thereon and applicable to these lots are to be regarded as if fully set forth in the instruments under which they respectively derive title. As between these parties the location arid dimensions of the private way designated John Street is fixed by the plan. Each owns the soil thereof opposite his land to the centre of the way, with a right of way over the other half. Morgan v. Moore, 3 Gray, 319. Farnsworth v. Taylor, 9 Gray, 162. Boston Water Power Co. v. Boston, 127 Mass. 374. McKenzie v. Gleason, 184 Mass. 452. New England Structural Co. v. Everett Distilling Co. 189 Mass. 145. Gould v. Wagner, 196 Mass. 270. Downey v. H. P. Hood & Sons, 203 Mass. 4. As Colby, the owner of the entire tract, saw fit to define John Street on this plan as running through land occupied in part by his barns, the defendant who succeeds to his title is estopped, as against this plaintiff, from denying the location of the way so established.

The defendant’s contention that the street as now used, encroaching upon the land of the plaintiff, has been substituted as a public way by prescription for the private way defined by the plan, is disposed of by the finding of the master that the travel thereon has not ripened into a right of way or easement. In the absence of the evidence we cannot say that this finding is wrong. As John Street is not a public but merely a private way, the plaintiff has a right to the use of the surface for the usual purposes of such a way and a right to enter upon and prepare it for that use. See Atkins v. Bordman, 2 Met. 457, 467.

Decree affirmed.