Facts: A property owner entered into an agreement with the state to establish a conservation easement over a piece of the owner’s property. Under the agreement, the state was required to post signs on the property prohibiting hunting and trespassing. The state never posted the signs. The owner sold their property to a buyer.
Claim: The buyer sought to extinguish the conservation easement, claiming the state forfeited the easement by failing to comply with the posting requirement.
Counter claim: The state claimed the easement was not forfeited since the easement was established by the agreement and the posting requirement was not a condition subsequent to the granting of the conservation easement.
Holding: A California court of appeals held the easement was not forfeited since the posting requirement was not a condition subsequent to the granting of the conservation easement established by the agreement. [Wooster v. Department of Fish and Game (2012) 211 CA4th 1020]