Court Opinion

ID: 9596167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:46:45.646577+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:03.995376
License: Public Domain

BARBER, Judge,
dissenting:
The Coles purchased a piece of property from the Farmers Home Administration in February 1986. Access to the property, at the time of purchase, was by a passway from the county road over an adjacent piece of property. In April 1988, the Gil-vins purchased the property on which the passway lay from Farmers Home Administration. Both pieces of property had originally been owned as a single tract by Marion and Minnie Wells. The record indicates that the passway was in existence prior to the conveyance of the property to the Farmers Home Administration. The passway was in existence and in use at the time both the Coles and the Gilvins purchased their respective tracts. Nelson Cole used the passway at least annually to gain access to his property for maintenance purposes. The Gilvins built a separate roadway to gain access to their property.
In 1998, the Gilvins blocked access to the passway by means of a locked gate. This left the Coles with no access to their property. They filed a civil action seeking a declaration as to the existence of an easement in the passway to their property. It is uncontroverted that the passway had been in use since 1940, and the passway had never been blocked by the owner of the property. No feasible alternate route would afford access to the property. The parties all testified that any alternative passway to the property would have to pass over adjacent tracts and that the Coles would incur substantial costs in building such a roadway.
The majority correctly affirms the trial court in that the Coles’ claim of public roadway or easement by prescription is not supported by the evidence. Yet, the Coles are entitled to an easement by implication or an easement by necessity; I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion’s failure to recognize this remedy. An easement by implication, or quasi-easement, occurs when the original property owner creates a passway enabling access to a section of his realty. Kreamer v. Harmon, Ky., 336 S.W.2d 561, 563 (1960). The majority acknowledges that such an easement exists where (1) there is a separation of title from common ownership, (2) the separation occurs after long and continuous use of the easement, and (3) that the use of the easement is highly convenient and beneficial to the land conveyed. See Bob’s Ready to Wear, Inc. v. Weaver, Ky.App., 569 S.W.2d 715, 718 (1978).
It is uneontroverted that the Cole property and the Gilvin property derive from common ownership. Similarly, it is uncon-troverted that the easement has been in long and continuous use, and such use began long before the tracts were separated. The evidence before the trial court further established that the use of the claimed easement was highly convenient and beneficial to the land conveyed. In fact, without building a new road across separate tracts of property, there is no other access to the tract conveyed. Under such circumstances, an easement by implication is proper.
A purchaser takes possession of realty subject to any easement of which he has actual or constructive knowledge. Lawson v. Campbell, 299 Ky. 284, 185 S.W.2d 391, 393 (1945). The testimony of numerous witnesses showed that the passway had been in use prior to 1940, and this use to gain access to the Cole tract was well known. For two years prior to the Gilvins’ *480purchase of their tract, the passway was regularly used by the Coles to gain access to their land. Where the prior use is capable of ascertainment by careful inspection, the servient estate must be bound by the easement. Sievers v. Flynn, 305 Ky. 325, 204 S.W.2d 364 (1947).
Where the easement is necessary for the enjoyment of that portion of the property transferred, the easement passes by implication. Hedges v. Stucker, 237 Ky. 351, 35 S.W.2d 539, 540 (1931). If the original owner of the property accessed the tract by means of the passway, the easement should pass to successive owners by implication. Hall v. Coffey, Ky.App., 715 S.W.2d 249, 250 (1986). The easement has always been necessary to reach that portion of the property now owned by the Coles. The necessity of the easement to the Coles is clear; it is reasonably necessary for the Coles to reach their tract, and no other means of ingress or egress exists. Under such circumstances, an easement must be found. Sievers at 366.
For the forgoing reasons, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion.