Montecito Country Club v. Root
Facts: A homeowner’s property is burdened by an easement providing the neighboring property’s business access via a paved path through the homeowner’s property they also use to maintain the area’s landscaping. The business reroutes the paths for alternative access, allowing overgrowth to cover the easement path. The landscaping, considered the border line of the easement, is overgrown and creates a pest problem for the homeowner. The homeowner removes the landscaping and installs a new hedge backed by a fence on the property line, blocking the neighboring owner’s access to the easement.
Claim: The homeowner seeks to eliminate the easement, claiming the easement is abandoned since the path is redundant as unused and the area is overgrown.
Counterclaim: The neighboring property owner claims the easement is not abandoned since its purpose for landscaping is still in use and the paved path may be reclaimed for future use.
Holding: A California appeals court holds an easement is not abandoned by rerouting an access path and allowing the easement to become overgrown since the easement’s purpose for landscaping is still in use and the easement path retains the possibility of future use. [Montecito Country Club v. Root (2026) 342 CA3rd 44]
Montecito Country Club v. Root
Related RCDs
Related Reading
Real Estate Legal Aspects Chapter 17: Easement maintenance costs
Legal Aspects of Real Estate Chapter 15: Interference and termination of easements
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