Fike v. Shelton

860 So.2d 1227 (2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P purchased forty acres of property that had no road access. P's forty acres were at one time two separate twenty-acre tracts of land. P purchased both twenty-acre tracts together as one and on the same date. P asserted that he was entitled to an easement by necessity through D's property because twenty acres of P's forty-acre parcel were at one time part of a commonly-owned tract of land with D's property prior to its partitioning in 1932. D owns a sixty-acre tract of land that connects with the initial 20 acres that were part of the common ownership. North of D's property and west of P's property is a twenty-acre tract of land owned by Sturgis. At one time all those properties were a part of a hundred-acre tract of land owned by Christiana Sturgis. In 1932, D's sixty-acre tract was conveyed to Calvin Sturgis; Sturgis got his 20-acre tract and P's 20 acres was conveyed to Minnie Sturgis Washington. The original road access for the 100 acres was through D's property. D claims that D has access from permission granted by two other properties. P was given permission by one owner to walk across his land to reach his property but was not given permission for motorized travel. The other property gave P a license that was revocable at will. Access from Dry Grove Road would require an easement through another's property that would intersect with P's second 20-acre tract that was not in common ownership with the Christiana Sturgis property. Access from Dry Grove Road would require an easement through another's property that would intersect with P's second 20-acre tract that was not in common ownership with the Christiana Sturgis property. Access from Grove Road would require an easement through D's and Sturgis properties that would connect to P's twenty-acre tract that at one time had been in common ownership with the Christiana Sturgis property. The court granted P an easement by necessity. D appealed.