Riffle v. Smith

S. David Smith and E. Anne Hayes appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court (York County, O’Neil, J.) awarding Stephen W. and Jane F. Riffle a prescriptive easement over a small triangular section of Smith and Hayes’s property for purposes of parking on it and accessing other parts of the Riffles’ parking area. Among other arguments, Smith and Hayes contend that we should adopt a ” friendly-neighbor” exception to the presumption of adversity that arises when property is used continuously for at least twenty years ” with the owner’s knowledge and acquiescence, or with a use so open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted that knowledge and acquiescence will be presumed.” Androkites v. White , 2010 ME 133, ¶ 14, 10 A.3d 677.

Because the court did not find facts that demonstrate a friendly-neighbor relationship between the parties’ predecessors in title, we do not reach Smith and Hayes’s proposal that we expand the law to create a friendly-neighbor exception, and we affirm the judgment.

RIFFLE 86A3D1165