Summary
The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed a judgment quieting title to a disputed parcel known as Tract A in favor of the plaintiffs. The court held that the five-year nonuse provision of section 228.190.1, RSMo, applies to any existing public road, regardless of how the road was established, and rejected contrary intermediate appellate decisions. The evidence supported a finding that the road had been abandoned before 1990, rendering the CART-fund restrictions in section 228.190.2 inapplicable.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the five-year nonuse provision of section 228.190.1 applies to an existing public road without proof of the manner in which the road was originally established.
- Whether section 228.190.2, concerning roads that received county aid road trust funds, prevented abandonment of Tract A.
- Whether the evidence was sufficient to establish abandonment through continuous public nonuse, including where Plaintiffs allegedly obstructed access and Plaintiffs themselves used the property.
Holdings
- The nonuse provision of section 228.190.1 applies to any existing public road, and a party asserting abandonment need not prove how the road was originally established.
- Section 228.190.2 does not prevent abandonment where the abandonment occurred before January 1, 1990, even if the road received county aid road trust funds.
- Substantial evidence supported the finding that Tract A was abandoned because the public had not used it continuously for at least five years.
- Even assuming Plaintiffs unlawfully obstructed access, the relevant inquiry under section 228.190.1 remains whether Defendants or the public at large continued to use the road; the evidence supported abandonment because no member of the public was shown to have been prevented from accessing Tract A.
Key quotations
“The party asserting abandonment of an existing public road only needs to prove what section 228.190.1 provides; namely, "nonuse by the public for five years continuously...."” (679)
“The decisions in Coffey and Kleeman misinterpret the nonuse provision of section 228.190.1 and, on that point, no longer should be followed.” (679)
Factual background
Tract A was originally part of a public road running between the parties' properties. When Missouri Highway 39 was constructed in 1954 and 1955, the highway left part of the old road intact, but the public ceased using the portion identified as Tract A. Plaintiffs acquired their property in 1955 and thereafter used Tract A to store farm equipment and as their own, while the evidence indicated that neither Defendants nor other members of the public had used the tract for decades.
Procedural history
Plaintiffs sued to quiet title to Tract A, claiming part of the parcel by deed and the remainder by adverse possession. Defendants asserted that Tract A remained a public roadway. After a bench trial, the trial court quieted title in Plaintiffs' favor without making requested findings of fact. The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed.