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
• Stegall was paying for the upkeep of the gravel lane.

• O'Dell sued Stegall & neighbors to the north seeking legal recognition of his prescriptive easement of the gravel lane.
• O'Dell won in the trial court.

• Must land use supporting a prescriptive easement be adverse, continuous, & either
  • actually known or
  • open & notorious?

• 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
• Stegall argued that O'Dell's use of the gravel lane was causing wear & tear

Yes. A prescriptive easement can only arise from a use that's adverse, continuous, & either actually known or open & notorious.

Reversed

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.

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