Hamer v. Byrne

Citations

• 231 Conn. App. 53

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed from the judgment of the trial court finding, inter alia, that they had not proved their cause of action for adverse possession of certain property owned by the defendant M. The plaintiffs own real property on Evergreen Avenue in Westport, with a rear property line that abuts the property of M, who installed a stockade fence along that property line. M owns the strip of land along Evergreen Avenue that provides access to M's property, the plaintiffs' property, and to the property of the defendant J, that is located across the access strip from the plaintiffs' property. The access strip is encumbered by deed language that provides the plaintiffs and J with rights over the access strip for purposes of ingress and egress and for all purposes for which a public highway can be used. The plaintiffs claimed, inter alia, that the court erred in its determination that the fence erected between the properties by M was not a spite structure. The defen- dants M, and her two adult children P and R, cross appealed from, inter alia, the trial court's judgment for the plaintiffs on the count of their counter- claim, that alleged that the actions of the plaintiff C constituted the commis- sion of a prima facie tort. Held: The trial court did not err in rendering judgment for M on the plaintiffs' cause of action asserting the erection of an alleged spite fence, as the court properly concluded that the plaintiffs failed to sustain their burden of proof with respect to all of the elements necessary to state a cause of action under the statutes (§§ 52-480 and 52-570) governing the malicious erection of a structure. The trial court did not err in concluding that three fixed objects located near Evergreen Avenue and within the access strip, namely, a fence erected by J and mailboxes owned by J and M, did not materially and substantially interfere with the plaintiffs' use and enjoyment of their easement rights, as the plaintiffs were still able to use the access str