O'Dell v. Stegall

• O'Dell = purchaser of a church land in West Virginia re-purposed for residential use
• O'Dell's new property had direct access to a public road through a driveway on the building's south side
• On the north side of O'Dell's property was a gravel lane connected to the aforesaid public road
• Ownership of the gravel lane was unknown
• 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

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

• Prescriptive easement = an easement acquired by adverse possession
• American courts generally dis-favor prescriptive easements