Community Feed Store, Inc. v. Northeastern Culvert Corp.

559 A.2d 1068 (Vt. 1989)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Community Feed (P) operated a small wholesale and retail animal feed business. Northeastern (D) was a neighboring business with adjacent land ownership. The dispute was over a parcel of land to the north of P's principal building (the 'mill') which was shown to be a rectangular area 60 x 90 feet covered with gravel but not otherwise improved. P owns that part of the gravel area extending 28 feet to the north of the mill, and the remainder belongs to D. The mill has loading areas on both the north and the south sides. Vehicles utilizing P's services would use the gravel lot on a regular basis for turning and backing. Evidences showed that both the suppliers’ trucks, as well as the customers’ smaller vehicles, used the gravel lot for this purpose. Although D purchased his land in 1956, it was not until after a survey in 1984 that it was conclusively established that the bulk of the gravel area used by P’s vehicles actually belonged to D. D erected a barrier at the survey line to prevent cars and trucks from using its portion of the gravel area. P sued for a declaration of a prescriptive easement. The trial court ruled against P because he could not prove with sufficient particularity the length and width and any use of the area in question by P was made with permission of the fee owner. P appealed.