McIntyre v. Board of County Commissioners, Gunnison County

Summary

The Colorado Supreme Court held that Gunnison County failed to establish a public road by prescription across the McIntyre property under section 43-2-201(1)(c), because it did not satisfy the required claim-of-right element. The court explained that public use for the statutory twenty-year period is not sufficient by itself; the responsible public entity must take an overt action, such as maintaining the route or including it in the public road system, that puts the landowner on notice of the public claim. The court reversed the lower courts’ rulings limited to the McIntyre property.

Holdings

1. A claimant seeking to establish a public road by prescription under section 43-2-201(1)(c) must prove that the public used the road adversely and under a claim of right, continuously for twenty years, with the landowner's actual or implied knowledge and without objection.
2. For a public entity to establish a public road by prescription, the claim of right must be supported by an overt governmental act that gives the landowner notice of the public entity's claim.
3. Gunnison County failed to establish a public road by prescription across the McIntyre property because it took no overt action demonstrating a public claim of right during the prescriptive period.
4. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment and entering a quiet-title decree establishing a public highway across the McIntyre property.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 43-2-201(1)(c) requires a public entity seeking to establish a public road by prescription to prove a public claim of right separate from adverse public use.
2. Whether public use of the footpath for twenty years, without County maintenance, inclusion in the County road system, or other overt County action, established a public road by prescription.
3. Whether the trial court and court of appeals properly entered judgment establishing a public highway and quiet title across the McIntyre property.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded