Opinion ID: 2351771
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Release of the Statutorily Created Constructive Easement

Text: The Bureau contends that the court erred in holding that because the lease entered into by the State and AHI did not explicitly terminate the statutorily created constructive easement it did not operate to extinguish the easement. We agree with the Bureau that AHI through its actions released the easement and the easement thereby was extinguished. At the outset we note, without expressing any opinion on the correctness of this concession, that the Bureau concedes that section 588-A creates an easement appurtenant. We accept this concession for purposes of deciding this appeal. An easement appurtenant is a non-possessory interest in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a specific purpose. Davis v. Briggs, 117 Me. 536, 538, 105 A. 128 (1918). An easement appurtenant can be terminated in five ways: (1) by expiration; (2) by an act of the dominant owner (either by release or abandonment); (3) by act of the servient owner (prescription or conveyance to a bona fide purchaser without notice); (4) by conduct of both of the parties (merger or estoppel) or, (5) by eminent domain, mortgage, foreclosure or tax sale. 3 Powell, The Law of Real Property ¶ 421-426 (1992). In this case we focus our attention on the second of these five: release or abandonment by the owner of the dominant tenement. The owner of the easement may end the easement by releasing it to the owner of the servient estate. 3 Powell, The Law of Real Property ¶ 423 (1992). The effectiveness of a release, like that of an abandonment, depends on a finding of intention. Jackvony v. Poncelet, 584 A.2d 1112, 1114 (R.I.1991) (citing Restatement of Property § 504 cmt. b (1944)). With respect to abandonment, we have stated that the requisite intent to abandon an easement may be demonstrated by unequivocal acts which are decisive and conclusive and indicate a clear intent to extinguish the easement. See, e.g., Phillips v. Gregg, 628 A.2d 151, 153 (Me.1993) (quoting Canadian Nat. Ry. v. Sprague, 609 A.2d 1175, 1179 (Me.1992)); Restatement of Property § 504 cmt. e (1944) (An intention to abandon an easement may be inferred . . . from affirmative acts inconsistent with the intention to make a future use.) Because a release operates to increase the alienability of land by decreasing the number of persons who can claim an interest in the land, less formality is required to release an easement than to create one. Restatement of Property § 503 cmt. a (1944); Powell, The Law of Real Property ¶ 423 (1992). AHI entered into a thirty-year lease of the submerged lands adjacent to its upland property. While the lease did not expressly mention the statutorily created constructive easement now claimed by Great Cove, the terms of the lease were inconsistent with the continued existence of the constructive easement. The term of the lease extended beyond the termination of the constructive easement, included a larger geographic area than that of the constructive easement, contractually bound AHI to pay rent to the State for the use and enjoyment of an area it previously had enjoyed the use of rent-free pursuant to its statutorily created constructive easement, and permitted the Bureau on default to take possession of the submerged land and the chattels attached to the submerged land. By entering into a lease that contained terms and conditions that were inimical to the property interest it enjoyed pursuant to its statutorily created constructive easement, AHI clearly and unequivocally manifested an intention to release the constructive easement. Thus, the trial court erred in its determination that entry into the thirty-year lease by AHI did not extinguish the statutorily created constructive easement assigned to AHI. Because the constructive easement was extinguished by AHI's entry into the long-term lease with the Bureau, we need not consider Great Cove's contention on cross-appeal that subsequent to the execution of the lease by AHI the easement was transferred by AHI to Great Cove.