Warsaw v. Chicago Metallic Ceilings, Inc.
676 P.2d 584 · California Supreme Court · 1984
Facts
Plaintiffs and defendant acquired contiguous commercial parcels in Vernon, California, from a common owner in 1972. Plaintiffs built a large commercial building with a 40-foot driveway, which was inadequate for large trucks servicing their loading docks without encroaching on defendant's vacant adjacent property. From 1972 to 1979, trucks continuously used a 25-foot wide portion of defendant's land for turning and access. Plaintiffs unsuccessfully attempted to acquire an express easement from defendant during this period. In 1979, defendant began constructing a warehouse on the disputed area, blocking plaintiffs' use, prompting plaintiffs to file suit. Defendant continued construction and completed the building after the lawsuit was filed.
Procedural history
The plaintiffs filed an action for injunctive and declaratory relief. The trial court denied a preliminary injunction but, after a trial on the merits, found that plaintiffs had acquired a 25-foot wide prescriptive easement and ordered defendant to remove the interfering portion of its building. The trial court also reserved jurisdiction to award damages if defendant failed to comply. Defendant appealed this judgment, and the Supreme Court granted a hearing after the Court of Appeal's decision, adopting portions of the Court of Appeal's opinion.
Issue
1. May a property owner who acquires a prescriptive easement be required to compensate the servient tenement owner for the fair market value of the easement? 2. May the easement owner be required to contribute to the cost of removing an encroaching structure that interferes with the easement, especially when the encroachment was erected after litigation began?
Holding
1. No, the owner of a prescriptive easement is not required to compensate the underlying property owner for the fair market value of the easement. 2. No, the easement owner is not required to contribute to the cost of removing an encroaching structure when the encroachment was willfully erected by the servient tenement owner with knowledge of the claimed easement and after litigation commenced. The trial court's judgment was affirmed.
Rule
A prescriptive easement is acquired through open, notorious, continuous, and adverse use for an uninterrupted period of five years, and confers a title by prescription "sufficient against all" without requiring compensation to the underlying property owner. This rule is based on statutes and common law, serving policies to reduce litigation and stabilize long-continued property uses. While courts of equity may, in appropriate cases, condition injunctive relief on the plaintiff contributing to the cost of relocating an innocent encroachment, a mandatory injunction for removal is proper, even if costly, when the encroaching structure was willfully erected with knowledge of the claimed easement, especially after litigation has begun.
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