In Frederick v. Consolidated Waste Servs., Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed a lower court’s judgment that the Fredericks did not have an easement over Consolidated Waste Services, Inc. (CWS) property. The Fredericks’ property became landlocked after Lagasse Road, which adjoined their property and ran through CWS’s land, was discontinued in 1950.

The court rejected the Fredericks’ claims of an easement by strict necessity because their land was not landlocked at the time of the original conveyance in 1855, and an easement created by strict necessity must exist at the time of severance of unity of title.

The court also rejected the claim of an implied easement based on a “quasi-easement.” For a quasi-easement to exist, the common grantor must have openly used the property in a manner constituting a quasi-easement, intended for it to continue as a true easement, and the owners of the conveyed land must have continued to use it. The Fredericks failed to prove the common grantor had an ownership interest in the road in 1855, and the existence of a public road at that time suggested no intent to create a private easement.

Finally, the court dismissed the argument for an easement arising from a conveyance abutting a way, stating that such an easement requires the grantor to own the fee in the road at the time of conveyance and would not extend beyond the road abutting the grantor’s land.

Summary by Gemini