Opinion ID: 1280555
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Building Prohibition

Text: III. For much the same reasons the court's ruling that plaintiffs may not build a structure or obstacle on the 50 foot strip must also be reversed. In Central Kentucky Natural Gas Co. v. Huls, Ky.Ct.App., 241 S.W.2d 986, 987, 28 A.L.R.2d 621, the pipe line company had already moved its line once to allow a tobacco warehouse to be built. Property owner then tried to build small restaurant over the high pressure gas line. This action was enjoined. The width of the way was neither set out in the grant nor considered by the court. In passing on the question the court said: Under the provisions of the grant of right of way above it becomes immediately apparent that the dominant and servient owners have correlative rights. The dominant owner has the right to lay the line; he has the right of access to make repairs and properly patrol the line and make such use of easement as is reasonable, but with as little burden on the servient estate as the nature of the easement and the object will permit. It is not meant that he shall have exclusive control of the right of way. On the other hand the servient owner has the right to use the land in any way not inconsistent with the rights granted under the easement or which do not become an encroachment upon or interference with the means and facilities the owner of the easement may lawfully use. Several additional cases have enjoined building directly over oil or pressure gas pipelines. Tide-Water Pipe Co. v. Blair Holding Co., Inc., 42 N.J. 591, 202 A.2d 405; Magnolia Pipeline Co. v. McCarter, Tex.Ct.Civ.App. 52 S.W.2d 663; Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co. v. Cutrer, La.Ct.App., 30 So.2d 864; Ohio Fuel Gas Company v. Sun Oil Company, Ohio Com.Pl., 164 N.E. 2d 922. Ohio Fuel Gas Co. v. Sun Oil, ibid, is the only case cited where the building was not built or to be built directly over the pipeline itself. The peculiar physical conditions in that case involving a 16 inch gas main, a 24 inch gas main, a 4 inch gas main and proposed use by the property owner of the property for a filling station was held to justify an injunction against further building. No case has been cited where the courts have held in advance of specific proposals, and in the absence of contractual language requiring such result, that all building on the full width of the easement is prohibited as a matter of law. In Peoples G. L. & C. Co. v. Cook Lumber Terminal Co., 256 Ill.App. 357, 368, the court refused an injunction. The court recognized the rules heretofore noted in the following language: `On the other hand, the owner of the easement is entitled to its full enjoyment, together with every right necessary to such enjoyment. He has no right, merely for the sake of convenience, to interfere with the owner's control and beneficial use of the land further than is necessary for the reasonable enjoyment of his easement.' We do not say a proposal to build directly over a high pressure gas line may not be enjoined as a result of appropriate factual showing. We hold a predetermination of the rights of the parties under generalized factual showings is inappropriate and contra to the rules of law noted. Since the facts found by the court do not justify the legal conclusion sought by plaintiffs; i. e. that they are entitled to build over any portion of the easement regardless of the circumstances existing at the time of building, plaintiffs' petition should have been dismissed as to such claim. Again, defendant merely asserted the easement prohibits placement of building or other obstacles over the easement as an affirmative defense. Dismissal of plaintiffs' petition also disposes of this feature of the case.