Opinion ID: 2099830
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Removal of the Porch

Text: The grant or denial of injunctive relief is reviewed on appeal for an abuse of discretion. See Walsh v. Johnston, 608 A.2d 776, 778 (Me.1992). Adler contends that the court's order directing her to remove the porch was an abuse of discretion because the right to remove part of the house was not specifically reserved in the original deed. Littlefield contends that the court's equitable powers permitted the relief. The power of equity is broad and flexible. See Levasseur v. Dubuc, 229 A.2d 201, 204 (Me.1967). Equitable remedies may be fashioned to meet the needs of the parties in a particular case. Id. In the instant case, the rights reserved in the original deed were two: first, Roby reserved to himself, his heirs and assigns, a forty foot right of way which, at the time of reservation, had a portion of an existing residence protruding into its boundaries; second, he reserved to himself, his heirs and assigns, the right to move that residence in its entirety in a northerly direction, out of the right of way. Together, these two reservations give Littlefield, Roby's successor in interest, a single right to an unobstructed right of way. Although Littlefield conceded that it was no longer practical to insist on enforcement of his right to move the Adler's entire residence from the right of way, the court could reasonably have found that this concession did not preclude the more modest demand that the porch be removed from the right of way. [5] In ordering that removal, the court acted within the scope of its equitable power and did not abuse its discretion.