Regan v. Owen
Annotate this CaseThe issue this appeal presented for the Supreme Court's review was whether Jeff and Karen Owen's deed should have been reformed to grant an easement across their property for the benefit of Brent and Moura Regan. The Regans ownedof a 50.55-acre parcel of land in Kootenai County. The Owens owned an adjoining 10.7 acre parcel to the east of the Regans. The Owens’ property was acquired by two separate conveyances: they acquired a 10.3-acre parcel from David and Helen Hanna by a warranty deed in 2003 (Owen Parcel); and they acquired a 0.4-acre parcel from Kootenai County by a 2005 deed (Orphan Parcel). The Orphan Parcel adjoined the northern boundary of the Owen parcel. The Owens moved for summary judgment seeking a denial of the Regans’ claim for reformation. The district court granted the Regans’ motion and denied the Owens’ motion, holding that the Regans’ claim for reformation based upon a mutual mistake was not barred by the statute of limitations and that there was a mutual mistake between the Original Grantors and a predecessor-in-interest as to the northern boundary of the parcel that the the predecessor purchased. It also held that the Owens were on inquiry notice of that mistake when they purchased the Owen Parcel and later the Orphan Parcel. Finally, the court held that even if they did not have notice of the mistake, granting the Regans an easement across the Owens’ property would not prejudice them. The Owens appealed. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded for further proceedings: the trial court did not cite any authority holding that a court can relocate the easement to another portion of the Owens’ land merely because it did not believe that doing so would prejudice them. Furthermore, there was no finding by the district court that the alleged prescriptive easement across the Orphan Parcel increased its value.
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