Schneider

FACTS AND HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS

A. The easement

The Schneiders and Lane own adjoining parcels of real property along the north bank of the South Fork of the Trinity River. Both parties trace their title back to a common grantor. Lane’s property, which lies to the west of the Schneiders’ property, benefits from an express appurtenant access easement conveyed by the common grantor that burdens the Schneiders’ property. The easement provides ingress and egress between Lane’s property and a county road on the east side of the Schneiders’ property. Without the easement, Lane’s property would be landlocked, and an easement would have been implied by necessity. The easement was not described in metes and bounds. The deed conveying the easement described the easement as “a non-exclusive easement for ingress and egress along the existing road and driveway . . . .” The existing road was known as Old River Road (or River Road), which ran east and west across the south end of the Schneiders’ property along the riverbank.

3 B. The 2011 judgment

In 2002, flooding on the South Fork of the Trinity River washed away part of River Road that Lane used to access her property,…