Holbrook v. Taylor

532 S.W.2d 763 (Ky. 1976)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Holbrook (D) bought land in 1942. Two years later, D allowed a mining road to be cut on the property. The road was used until 1949 and D got royalties. In 1957, D built a tenant house on their property, and the road was used by them and their tenant. The tenant house burned down in 1961 and was never rebuilt. In 1965 Taylor (P) bought a three-acre building site next to D’s property and built a home on the property the next year. At all times prior to 1965, the use of the road was with the permission of D. There was no evidence to show that the use of the road was adverse, continuous, or uninterrupted. D gave P permission to use the roadway on his land during construction and later extended this permission after the house was built. The cost of P’s construction was $25,000, and after construction, P’s regularly used the road as they had been doing during construction. P widened the road and put in a culvert and graveled part of it with red dog at a cost of $100. There is no other location over which a roadway could reasonably be built to provide ingress and egress for P. Eventually, D sought a writing, which would relieve D of any responsibility in case someone was injured or otherwise harmed while using the road. P thought that the writing was an attempt to make them buy a small strip of land the road was on for $500. P refused, and D erected a steel cable to prevent use of the road and set up no trespassing signs. P sued under prescription and by estoppel to use the roadway and lost. P lost under prescription but not by estoppels. D appealed.