Archive | Easement by prescription

RSS feed for this section

Bos Terra, LP v. Beers

Bos Terra, LP v. Beers, 2015 MT 201 (July 14, 2015) (McKinnon, J.) (5-0, aff’d)

Issue: (1) Whether the district court properly found that the June 20, 1977 easement was an easement in gross; (2) whether the district court properly held that Bos Terra is a third party assignee rather than a successor to the easement; and (3) whether the district court erred in finding Bos Terra’s use of the ditch easement permissive rather than prescriptive.

Short Answer: (1) Yes; (2) yes; and (3) no.

Affirmed

Facts: In 1977, Barrett granted to Stevensons and Kolars a right of way easement for transporting water. Stevensons and Kolars installed a pipeline from the Judith River to the top of a hill, at which point a 100-foot-long ditch was dug to connect the pipeline to the Enterprise Ditch, which had been abandoned.…

Meine v. Hren Ranches, Inc.

Meine v. Hren Ranches, Inc., 2015 MT 21 (Jan. 27, 2015) (McKinnon, J.) (5-0, aff’d)

Issue: (1) Whether estates must be contiguous to create an easement by prescription, and (2) whether substantial evidence supported the district court’s finding that the landowners had established a prescriptive easement over the canyon road.

Short Answer: (1) No, and (2) yes.

Affirmed

Facts: Hrens bought land in Small Horn Canyon in 1985 from Glenn Crampton, whose family originally homesteaded the land. The land is primarily used for summer grazing of livestock. Small Horn Canyon Road is a primitive route beginning north of Hrens’ property and traveling south for about 10 miles. Meines began using the road about 90 years ago. The road can accommodate logging trucks but not a tractor-trailer hauling cattle.…