Opinion ID: 2554259
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standards of Review and Elements of a Prescriptive Easement

Text: [¶ 12] We review questions of law and legal conclusions, including the construction of deeds, de novo. Mill Pond Condo. Ass'n v. Manalio, 2006 ME 135, ¶ 6, 910 A.2d 392, 395; Murch v. Nash, 2004 ME 139, ¶ 10, 861 A.2d 645, 649. We review the trial court's factual findings as to the elements of a prescriptive easement for clear error and will affirm those findings if supported by competent record evidence, even if evidence could support alternative factual findings. Eaton v. Town of Wells, 2000 ME 176, ¶ 33, 760 A.2d 232, 244. We will vacate the trial court's conclusion that the party with the burden of proof failed to prove a prescriptive easement only if the evidence compelled a contrary conclusion. Jordan v. Shea, 2002 ME 36, ¶ 22, 791 A.2d 116, 122. [¶ 13] The statutory requirement for establishing a prescriptive easement is found at 14 M.R.S. § 812 (2009), which provides in relevant part that [n]o person, class of persons or the public shall acquire a right-of-way or other easement through, in, upon or over the land of another by the adverse use and enjoyment thereof, unless it is continued uninterruptedly for 20 years. Sandmaier v. Tahoe Dev. Group, Inc., 2005 ME 126, ¶ 5, 887 A.2d 517, 518. This statutory provision, long part of Maine property law, see R.S. ch. 174, § 12 (1954), has been interpreted and applied through an extensive body of case law. [¶ 14] The party claiming a prescriptive easement has the burden at trial of proving by a preponderance of the evidence each of the following elements: (1) continuous use for at least twenty years; (2) under a claim of right adverse to the owner; (3) with the owner's knowledge and acquiescence, or with a use so open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted that knowledge and acquiescence will be presumed. Sandmaier, 2005 ME 126, ¶ 5, 887 A.2d at 518; accord Jordan, 2002 ME 36, ¶ 22, 791 A.2d at 122; Town of Kittery v. MacKenzie, 2001 ME 170, ¶ 15, 785 A.2d 1251, 1255-56; Dartnell v. Bidwell, 115 Me. 227, 230, 98 A. 743, 744 (1916). [¶ 15] The first element, continuous use for at least twenty years, is not in dispute. [5] For purposes of our analysis, we also assume that the third element of the prescriptive easement analysis was established. [6] What remains in dispute is the second element: whether White's and other family members' use of the Shore Path over what is now the Androkites Property was under a claim of right adverse to the owner.