Easements – Cases Flashcards
Willard v. First Church
Example of easement appurtenant
McGuigan gave church the right to use lot 20 for church parking.
Dominant Estate – Church
Servient Estate – Lot 20
Common Law rule for easements
Can’t create an easement in a 3rd party
Easement attaches to the land, not the church itself
Why does the Court reject the common law rule?
Willard v. First Church
Would be a windfall if Willard could quiet title because Petersen and Willard didn’t pay full price
Quieting title would elevate the value of the property above what Willard paid
Van Sandt v. Royster
Implied easements can arise from a pattern of circumstances that don’t expressly confer an easement in writing but an easement nonetheless arises out of it.
Why did the Court find a Quasi-Easement by prior use which is implied to exist?
(Van Sandt v. Royster)
(1) Original land must have common ownership
- Bailey owned all the land
(2) Prior use before land is subdivided
- Mr. Bailey put sewer line in before subdivision
(3) Must be apparent upon inspection that the property is used for sewer access
- Apparent doesn’t mean visible, but we find that this is an apparent use
- Inquiry Notice: Could’ve inquired about it
(4) Must be a continuing use that is necessary
- A sewer pipe is obviously a continuing necessary use
Brown v. Voss
An easement appurtenant to an estate may not be extended to other adjoining estates.
Why can an easement appurtenant not be extended to adjoining estates?
(Brown v. Voss)
WALMART EX
What should’ve Brown done?
Brown v. Voss
When buying the land, just ask for another easement for the second parcel
1) What if Voss says no?
- Use potential access from hwy instead of going to court
2) What should Brown have told architect?
- Make sure the house is only on lot B
3) What other easement should we pursue?
- Easement by necessity
Holbrook v. Taylor
Where the owner of land has granted a license to another to use and make improvements upon the land, and the licensee, relying on this permission, does use and make improvements to the land at considerable cost, that license is irrevocable.
Taylor has a license, coupled with an interest so license becomes irrevocable
What should Taylor have done instead of going to Court?
Holbrook v. Taylor
Just purchase the driveway to avoid litigation costs
Shepard v. Purvine
When a license is made by close friends and neighbors, it is irrevocable
Henry v. Dalton
A license is a license and a license is revocable
Oral restrictions do not give security / certainty in titles
Oral agreements should not be able to turn into irrevocable licenses
Crosdale v. Lanigan
Oral agreements are revocable because they can be easily misunderstood.
