By Gordon Orloff on Posted in Easements,Registered Land,Title,Waterfront PropertyA Massachusetts appellate court has ruled for the first time that new land which accretes to registered waterfront land is treated as registered land automatically, without the registered landowner filing additional proceedings. In Brown v. Kalicki, decided earlier this week, neighbors sought to establish an easement by prescription to use for recreational purposes a beach… Continue Reading
By Gordon Orloff on Posted in Standing,ZoningOn June 17, 2016, the Supreme Judicial Court decided an interesting zoning case concerning whether the holder of a beach access easement has standing to challenge a zoning determination affecting the beach parcel. The case is Picard v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Westminster. As all followers of Massachusetts zoning know, the standing of a… Continue Reading
By Gordon Orloff on Posted in Easements,Subdivision ControlIn its 2012 decision in Cater v. Bednarek, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Land Court decision that the plaintiffs’ easement had not been extinguished by abandonment or estoppel, even though it had not been cleared or used since its creation in 1899. However, the SJC remanded the case to the Land Court to consider whether it had been too restrictive in limiting the… Continue Reading
By Donald Pinto on Posted in EasementsIt’s been a hot summer in the world of easement law. Our appellate courts have issued three decisions which, collectively, reinforce the following important lessons: (1) easements can be created by implication, (2) once created, most easements last forever unless extinguished, and (3) proving that an easement has been extinguished isn’t easy. In mid-June, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decided Cater v. Bednarek (pdf), in which it ruled that an… Continue Reading
By Gordon Orloff on Posted in Easements,TitleLast month the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decided Cater v. Bednarek (pdf), an important case about easements and how they can – and can’t – be extinguished. The plaintiffs, the Caters, bought a vacant parcel of land in Truro that had the benefit of a right of way created by deed in 1899. That deed didn’t specify the location of… Continue Reading
By Richard Gallogly on Posted in Easements,Registered Land,TitleTheoretically, owners of registered land are entitled to rely on the information contained in their certificates of title. To the chagrin of many, however, that is no longer the case. In its decision this week in Williams Bros. Inc. of Marshfield v. Peck (pdf), the Appeals Court affirmed a Land Court ruling that an appurtenant easement is extinguished when the dominant and servient… Continue Reading
