E. Joseph Robinson, II v. Nelle Powell Williams Mahaffey

Syllabus

This appeal arises from a dispute between three neighbors over the nature and permissible use of an easement created through a 1983 judgment of the chancery court. The plaintiffs own the property that is burdened by the easement and argue that the trial court correctly found that the 1983 judgment created an easement in gross in favor of the landowner directly north of their property. We find that the trial court erred in finding an easement in gross and hold that the 1983 judgment created an express easement appurtenant creating a dominant and servient tenement however, the easement appurtenant was not capable of being conveyed to landowners who were not purchasing the dominant estate. Likewise, we find that there was no prescriptive or implied easement allowing the easement to be deeded from one neighbor to another. Because the trial court's judgment lacked findings of fact relevant to the slander of title cause of action, we remand this issue to the trial court for the entry of specific findings of fact on the elements of slander of title. We affirm the trial court's holding that defendants are responsible for the cost of re-installing a gate that they damaged. The chancery court's order is reversed in part, vacated in part, and affirmed in part.