Riffle v. Smith

Over the course of several decades, Plaintiffs and their predecessors in title used a section of their neighbor’s property, now owned by Defendants. In 2011, Plaintiffs filed an action alleging that they had obtained a prescriptive easement over the section of land. The superior court granted Plaintiffs a prescriptive easement over the disputed property, finding that Plaintiffs had established all elements necessary to the cause of action. On appeal, Defendants argued, among other things, that the Supreme Court should adopt a “friendly-neighbor” exception to the presumption of adversity that arises when the other elements of a prescriptive easement have been established. The Supreme Court affirmed without reaching Defendants’ legal argument because the superior court did not find that a friendly-neighbor relationship existed during the relevant timeframe.View "Riffle v. Smith" on Justia Law