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| |date=November 24, 2010 | | |date=November 24, 2010 |
| |subject=Property | | |subject=Property |
| |facts=*O'Dell = purchaser of a church land in West Virginia re-purposed for residential use
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| *O'Dell's new property had direct access to a public road through a driveway on the building's south side
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| *On the north side of O'Dell's property was a gravel lane connected to the aforesaid public road
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| *Ownership of the gravel lane was unknown
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| *Stegall = owner of a private property dependent on the gravel lane to access the public road; Stegall's house was to the north of the gravel lane
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| *Stegall was paying for the upkeep of the gravel lane.
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| *
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| *
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| |procedural_history=* O'Dell sued Stegall & neighbors to the north seeking legal recognition of his prescriptive easement of the gravel lane.
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| * O'Dell won in the trial court.
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| *
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| |issues=* Must land use supporting a prescriptive easement be [https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/adverse-possession adverse], continuous, & either
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| ** actually known or
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| ** open & notorious?
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| |arguments=* O'Dell argued that he had a prescriptive easement over the gravel road because churchgoers had been using the gravel road on the north to access the former church
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| * Stegall argued that O'Dell's use of the gravel lane was causing wear & tear
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| *
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| |holding=Yes. A prescriptive easement can only arise from a use that's adverse, continuous, & either actually known or open & notorious.
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| |judgment=Reversed
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| |reasons=Justice Ketchum: None of the parties could show who owned the gravel lane. Therefore, O'Dell could not claim adverse possession of a prescriptive easement.
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| |rule=* [https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/prescriptive-easement Prescriptive easement] = an easement acquired by adverse possession | | |rule=* [https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/prescriptive-easement Prescriptive easement] = an easement acquired by adverse possession |
| * American courts generally dis-favor prescriptive easements | | * American courts generally dis-favor prescriptive easements |
