Opinion ID: 2320694
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Utility Easement

Text: [¶ 15] The Superior Court held that the utility easement was in gross, because there is no dominant tenement. As noted above, an easement in gross does not benefit any dominant tenement. In this case, the record indicates that the utility easement was expressly reserved to ALC in the relevant deeds. It has not yet been used and appears to serve no purpose for the Coulthard Farms subdivision, but instead appears to serve as a way to transport utility services to adjacent property. Therefore, the utility easement does not benefit Coulthard Farms as the dominant tenement. The utility easement is in gross and personal to ALC. [¶ 16] The lot owners argue that the utility easement was created to benefit Coulthard Farms by furthering the development and sale of the lots within the subdivision. In the alternative, they argue that the utility easement benefits ALC in its ownership of Lot 1. There is no evidence that the unused utility easement either benefitted or would now benefit the sale and development of Coulthard Farms. To the contrary, the utility easement was reserved to ALC, with ALC granting a right of use to the developer of an adjacent subdivision. The utility easement may be used to benefit Wiley Farms, because it was reserved and retained by ALC for its own use. Therefore, we affirm the Superior Court's ruling that ALC may exercise its use of the utility easement over Lots 5 and 6 to benefit Wiley Farms.