Opinion ID: 2112519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Power of Trial Court to Relocate Plaintiffs' Right of Way

Text: The plaintiffs claim that the trial Court committed reversible error, when it adjudged that the defendant had the right to relocate the plaintiffs' right of way to the Town Road under the existing circumstances without the consent of the plaintiffs. We agree with the plaintiffs' contention. In the great majority of jurisdictions the rule is, that, once the location of an expressly deeded easement is established, whether by the language of the instrument creating the easement or by subsequent acts of the parties fixing on the ground the location of a general grant of a right of way, the site location may not be changed thereafter by either the owner of the dominant estate or the owner of the servient estate, unless both parties consent to the relocation, excepting, however, where the document creating the easement also contains an express or implied grant or reservation of power to relocate. Thus, in the absence of statutory provisions to the contrary, as a general rule, the location of an easement, when once established, cannot be changed or the easement relocated without the mutual consent of the owners of the dominant and servient estates. Sedillo Title Guaranty, Inc. v. Wagner, 80 N.M. 429, 457 P.2d 361, 363 (1969); Moore v. Center, 124 Vt. 277, 204 A.2d 164, 166 (1964); Sibbel v. Fitch, 182 Md. 323, 329, 34 A.2d 773, 774 (1943); Thompson, Real Property, Sec. 440 (1961); 3 Tiffany, Real Property, Sec. 806 (1939). [6] In Sakansky v. Wein, 86 N.H. 337, 169 A. 1, 3 (1933), the New Hampshire Court had this to say in relation to the relocation of a fixed existing right of way: The use which the plaintiff [owner of the dominant estate] may make of the way is limited by the bounds of reason, but within those bounds it has the unlimited right to travel over the land set apart for a way. It has no right to insist upon the use of any other land of the defendants [owners of the servient estate] for a way, regardless of how necessary such other land may be to it, and regardless of how little damage or inconvenience such use of the defendants' land might occasion to them. No more may the defendants [owners of the servient estate] compel the plaintiff to detour over other land of theirs.  (Emphasis provided) In Smith v. Jackson, 180 N.C. 115, 104 S.E. 169 (1920), the North Carolina Court ruled that the owner of the servient estate could not deprive the owner of the dominant estate of the use of the easement by providing another right of way, no matter how detrimental the easement was to the servient owner in the use of his land. See also Edgell v. Divver, Del.Ch., 402 A.2d 395, 397-398 (1979). This is not a case, where the language of the express grant or reservation of easement expressly or impliedly authorizes a relocation of the easement, as in Lyon v. Lea, 84 Me. 254, 24 A. 844 (1892); State, Commissioner of Transportation v. Stulman, 136 N.J.Super. 148, 345 A.2d 329 (1975). The deeds in the plaintiffs' chain of title contain express language in unqualified terminology concerning a right of way to the Town Road. The trial Court found that, although the deeds themselves did not fix the exact location of the right of way, the present location of the easement was fixed in 1896 and has never varied since that time. The defendant Bruk was well aware of the right of way when she purchased the servient estate in 1963. We recognize that a few courts have carved out an exception to the general rule foreclosing relocation of easements by the owner of the servient estate without the consent of the owner of the dominant estate. See Brown v. Bradbury, 110 Colo. 537, 135 P.2d 1013 (1943); Cozby v. Armstrong, 205 S.W.2d 403 (Tex.Civ.App.1947); Stewart v. Compton, 549 S.W.2d 832 (Ky. App.1977). But this Court, in Gore v. Fitch, 54 Me. 41 (1866), well expressed the rationale upon which the general rule rests, when it stated: The deed . . . . conveyed a right of way, and operated in presenti. The day after its execution the rights of the grantee were the same as the plaintiff's rights to-day. Whatever was conveyed could not be reclaimed and new rights substituted. The conveyance left nothing optional with the grantor. It was absolute; it was unchangeable by him alone. (Emphasis in original) [7] Bruk suggests that we should dilute the holding in Gore, supra, and permit unilateral relocation of easements where, as in the instant case, the following conditions exist: (1) the change of location by the owner of the servient estate is slight; (2) the servient owner will bear the expense of relocation; (3) the new right of way retains the same terminal points as the old way; and (4) the new way is as convenient as, or more convenient, than, the old way is to the owner of the dominant estate. Such an exception-rule would definitely introduce considerable uncertainty into land ownership, as well as upon the real estate market, and serve to proliferate litigation which the general rule as prevails in Maine has tended to prevent. Indeed, the owner of the dominant estate would be deprived of the present security of his property rights in the servient estate and could be subjected to harassment by the servient owner's attempts at relocation to serve his own conveniences. A unilateral relocation rule could confer an economic windfall on the servient owner, who presumably purchased the land at a price which reflected the restraints existing on the property. Such a rule would relieve him of such restraints to the detriment of the owner of the dominant estate whose settled expectations would be derailed with impunity. We agree with the plaintiffs' contention that the trial Court erred in permitting the defendant Bruk to construct an alternate right of way to the Town Road. That portion of the judgment below will be set aside.