Richard Tranfield et al. v. Patricia Arcuni-English

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a Superior Court judgment holding that Patricia Arcuni-English’s planting of trees along a property boundary constituted a spite fence and private nuisance under Maine’s spite fence statute. The court concluded that the Tranfields proved that malice was the dominant motive and that the trees unnecessarily exceeded six feet in height. The court upheld the limited removal and trimming remedy ordered by the trial court.

Holdings

1. The plaintiffs bear the burden of proving each element of a claim under Maine's spite-fence statute by a preponderance of the evidence, including that the structure unnecessarily exceeded six feet in height and was maliciously maintained for the purpose of annoying adjoining property owners.
2. Malice need not be the sole motive for constructing or maintaining a spite fence; it is sufficient that malice, meaning a purpose to annoy, was the dominant motive such that without the malicious motive the fence would not have been erected or maintained.
3. The trial court did not clearly err in finding that Arcuni-English's dominant motive was malicious.
4. The trial court did not clearly err in finding that the trees unnecessarily exceeded six feet in height.
5. The installation of more than thirty trees creating a dense and continuous wall, when undertaken with a dominant malicious motive and unnecessarily exceeding six feet, constituted a spite fence under section 2801. The trial court's limited removal and trimming remedy was fair and appropriate.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court clearly erred in finding that Arcuni-English's dominant motive in planting the trees was malicious.
2. Whether the trial court clearly erred in finding that the trees unnecessarily exceeded six feet in height under Maine's spite-fence statute.
3. Whether the tree plantings constituted a private nuisance under 17 M.R.S. § 2801.
4. Whether the trial court's remedy requiring removal or trimming of specified trees was appropriate.

Disposition

affirmed