Opinion ID: 2059055
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim of Right Adverse to the Owner

Text: An essential element to the creation of a prescriptive easement is that the use by the party asserting the prescriptive right must be under a claim of right adverse to the owner, with the owner's knowledge and acquiescence. Pace v. Carter, Me., 390 A.2d 505, 507 (1978); Jacobs v. Boomer, Me., 267 A.2d 376, 378 (1970). [W]here there has been unmolested, open and continuous use of a way for twenty years or more, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the owner of the servient estate, the use will be presumed to have been adverse and under a claim of right.... (Emphasis added.) Jacobs v. Boomer, Me., 267 A.2d 376, 378 (1978) quoting Burnham v. Burnham, 130 Me. 409, 156 A. 823 (1931). Acquiescence has been defined as passive assent or submission to the use, as distinguished from the granting of a license or permission given with the intention that the licensee's use may continue only as long as the owner continues to consent to it. Pace v. Carter, 390 A.2d at 507; see Jacobs v. Boomer, 267 A.2d at 378; Dartnell v. Bidwell, 115 Me. 227, 230, 98 A. 743, 745 (1916). On appeal, the defendant asserts that Blackmer's use of the way does not satisfy the requirements noted above. At trial, the plaintiff stated that he viewed the road as a town road; this characterization, urges the defendant, indicates that use was not under a claim of right. Another witness stated that the Riegals, prior owners of the defendant's land, had told that witness that it was all right to use the road. Also, a deed was entered into evidence indicating that the Village Corporation had acquired a two-year easement over the road between 1956 and 1958. According to the defendant, this evidence establishes that the use of the way was permissive and not adverse to Williams or his predecessors-in-title, and that, therefore, the trial court's finding to the contrary was clearly erroneous. However, the grant of an easement to Lucerne-in-Maine and the statement by the Riegals do not necessarily preclude a finding of adverse use. Permissive use by one individual does not in and of itself prevent any other user from establishing an independent or individual claim of right. See Thompson v. Bowes, 115 Me. 6, 9, 97 A. 1, 2 (1916). The statement by the Riegals need not be construed in the context of all the evidence as a grant of permission; rather it can be viewed as recognition that others possessed an easement across their land. See Pace v. Carter, 390 A.2d at 507. The Village Corporation's easement by grant was for a two-year period commencing in 1956. The statement by the Riegals occurred in the mid 1950's. Thus, a twenty-year period of prescriptive use could have been established either prior or subsequent to either the statement attributed to the Riegals or the period of the Village Corporation's easement. With respect to the reference to the way as a town road, we do not find this characterization by a layman as dispositive on the question of permissive use. This is so because of the existence of other testimony intimating an independent right to use the way and the lack of any testimony indicating that the plaintiff's right of use depended solely upon his belief that the town had a right of way. Moreover, a claim of right through the town is not necessarily a claim in subordination to the rights of the servient estate. See Rollins v. Blackden, 112 Me. 459, 465, 92 A. 521, 525 (1914). In light of this evidence and other evidence produced at trial, we cannot view as clearly erroneous the Superior Court's findings regarding the nature of the plaintiff's use of the way. Even though the evidence could support an alternative factual finding, that alone does not compel reversal of the findings below when they are supported by competent evidence. Harmon v. Emerson, Me., 425 A.2d 978, 982 (1981); see Madore v. Bangor Roof & Sheet Metal Co., Me., 428 A.2d 1184, 1187 (1981). Accordingly, we affirm the Superior Court's judgment that the plaintiff has acquired a prescriptive easement across the land of the defendant. [3]