Posted on 09/12/2018 9:34:16 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Is there an easement? That is what matters
Near as I can tell from the article, there is no recorded easement, but there is a claim of an easement by use (or some such thing)
Oh here’s something I care about.
If this is public or some easement or agreement gives public access, then it needs to be maintained. Tired of hearing about private owners, giving access in trade for tax breaks, road or trail improvements, then closing it off. This is also a problem on public lands, leased for grazing, then fenced and attempted to be closed to public, which is wrong and not part of the grazing rights. STOP CLOSING OFF OR BLOCKING ACCESS TO PUBLIC LANDS.
That would be the simplest solution, barring that this will go to trial. The judge will most likely side with the public and rule based upon historic use and photographic evidence.
At least that’s what happened in my o e abd only prescriptive rights case that I was involved in.
Hard to prove
both parties need to agree to such an easement and would need to be recorded to be legal and undisputed
Had a neighbor try to do that with me, he even convinced the town I live in of it, I had to get an attorney who explained the law to the those dunderheads and I won. Cost me money, while my neighbor got free use of the township attorneys and zoning officials, nice right? I pay taxes and paid for the lawyers who were fighting me while I had to pay for my own lawyer. Freedom.
IANAL, but I think they have a case. The pathway was not maintained exclusively - public access was granted for at least seventy year.
IANAL, but we do have common law in the US, one way or another.
> agreement
IANAL, but I doubt that written agreements are needed for such a case of the owners NOT prohibiting access for maybe 100 years or more.
Limousine Liberals dont like seeing those other people.
Malibu Oceanfront Mansion Owners have issues with Public Access to the Beaches in front of them.
A big Hollywood Producer guy (Geffen I think) fenced off the Beach Access trail next to his Malibu House for years. He fought the CA Coastal Commission with his expensive Lawyers until he decided to sell the House.
Beach Access for me, but not for Thee.
IANL?
“Is there an easement? That is what matters”
Read tge article and do your homework ...
> easement by use
IANAL, but issues like this split conservatives.
conservative: private property ownership
conservative: respect for very long standing western principles and practice that predate the US
I Am Not A Lawyer
Sounds like a prescriptive easement to me.
Wonder if the county’s trails map shows the route?
With that argument, construction of the Trans-Continental railroad should have been stopped.
According to the article, no easement
But that does not mean one does not exist.
Tax maps would help as well. If the land owner is paying taxes, the land is on his deed, and no easement, it is his property, period
The developer even offered alternative means and was willing to deed it to the trail system, but were not good enough for the freeloaders.
Looks like they are trying to use a ‘prescriptive’ easement, which is used in extreme cases, such as land locked properties. But this sounds like it is being used for convenience because the public access to the public property is farther away. That is not what prescriptive easements are used for. They are used for necessity, not convenience.
The property owner is being reasonable here while the freeloaders, of course just want more free stuff
Its been a long time since my real estate classes but I think the term is Adverse Possession.
If someone owns a store with a parking lot and people have used that parking lot for years to drive between two adjacent apartment complexes, the owner gives up the right to put up a fence to keep them from using the lot as a shortcut.
Different jurisdictions can rule differently on the time but usual examples are 3-20 years.
The path in question should fall into adverse possession because it has been used, in an unrestricted fashion, since at least 1947.
If the owners can prove they gated it even one day a year since that time, they could have a case against the public possession.
In some states if a piece of property has been used by someone for 7 years or more it becomes theirs. in this case the publics.
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