Christopher B. Patton v. Jill Marie Campoy

Syllabus

This is a declaratory judgment action in which the plaintiffs seek to establish that they have an ingress and egress easement over the portion of a once public road that crosses over their neighbor's property. The plaintiffs contend that they have a prescriptive easement or, in the alternative, a private access easement for ingress and egress because their properties abut the once public road that runs through the defendant's property. The chancery court found that the plaintiffs have a prescriptive easement for ingress and egress across the defendant's property. The defendant appeals. We affirm the trial court's finding that the plaintiffs have an easement across the defendant's property, albeit on different grounds. We have determined that the plaintiffs failed to prove a prescriptive easement nevertheless, they have proven a private access easement over the defendant's property because their properties abut a once public road that passes through the defendant's property. Accordingly, we affirm as modified the decision of the trial court awarding the plaintiffs an ingress and egress easement over the defendant's property.