Opinion ID: 2554806
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Permitted Uses of the Easement

Text: [¶ 59] Muther and Woods also challenge the court's determination that the J-Lot owners and their guests could use the easement without time restrictions and that strollers, wagons, bicycles, and wheelchairs were permitted on the walkway easement. [¶ 60] The scope of a deeded right of way is not necessarily unlimited, but uses may vary to allow full enjoyment of the easement, as long as changes in use are consistent with the easement's purpose and the practical construction which the parties placed upon the deed by their conduct, by acts done by one party and acquiesced in by the other, especially when such conduct is proven to have continued for a long time. Guild, 1997 ME 120, ¶¶ 6, 9, 695 A.2d at 1192-93 (quotation marks omitted) (alterations omitted). [¶ 61] The court could have properly inferred, based on extensive testimony by J-Lot owners and non-J-Lot owners about their long-time, unchallenged recreational use of Secret Beach from 1969 to 2004, that non-motorized conveyances such as strollers, wagons, bicycles, and wheelchairs were within the scope of the easement because they were incidental to pedestrian traffic and consistent with the general recreational purpose of the easement. Furthermore, neither the J-Lot deeds nor the 1970 plan placed restrictions on when the easement could be used or who could use the easement. This evidence, coupled with the inferred purpose of the easement, also supports the court's determination that there is no time restriction on use of the easement and that the J-Lot owners and a reasonable number of their guests may use the easement. See Lakeside at Pleasant Mountain Condo. Ass'n v. Town of Bridgton, 2009 ME 64, ¶ 18, 974 A.2d 893, 898 (holding that use of a right-of-way, granted for a resort's use, by guests and invitees staying at a resort inn was not a per se overburdening).