Opinion ID: 1907175
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Continuous and Uninterrupted for 10 Years

Text: ¶ 26. Biddix and Williams also maintain on appeal that it is beyond cavil that their use was uninterrupted for more than 10 years, but provide no evidence to prove this assertion. This Court has held that sporadic, noncontinuous use is insufficient to establish a prescriptive easement. Eastlawn Dev. Co. v. Wells, 311 So.2d 334, 337 (Miss.1975). This Court has also held that: [w]e think the majority of the courts and the sounder reason hold that there must be something more than a protest to interrupt the running of a claim of right followed by actual users; there must be at least an interruption of the use of the way claimed as a right by the opposing person who opposes such claim. Where another is asserting a claim of right and using a passageway under such claim, a party must do something more than merely verbally protest; there must be a physical interruption or a court proceeding or some unequivocable act of ownership which interrupts the exercise of the right claimed and being used by the opposite parties. The removal of boundary stakes, caring for the land, and granting Biddix and Williams and their predecessors an easement for utility purposes are all physical interruptions and/or unequivocal act(s) of ownership to defeat this element needed for a prescriptive easement. ¶ 27. Additionally, other evidence that defeats the claim of Biddix and Williams include the fact that the out-of-bounds markers as well as the cart path were not permanent and varied in their location. See Eastlawn Dev. Co. v. Wells, 311 So.2d at 337. In the Wells case, the claimant was denied adverse possession when it could not be ascertained that he occupied any specific portion of land continuously for the requisite time period. Id. According to the testimony of Steven McVay, Biddix and Williams did not always place out-of-bounds markers in the same location, which caused the boundaries to fluctuate. Accordingly, they did not occupy a specific portion of land consecutively because if the location of the markers changed, then so did the land being claimed. ¶ 28. Biddix and Williams have not met the requirements to establish a prescriptive easement because they have not established by clear and convincing evidence each of the six required elements. Indeed, they failed completely to address three. We find that the chancellor did not commit manifest error because there is substantial evidence that supports her finding that a prescriptive easement does not exist.