Hoffman

BACKGROUND

The Facts Plaintiff and defendants own and reside in neighboring parcels of land and single-family homes in San Rafael. Access to defendants’ landlocked property is provided by an easement on plaintiff’s property, which was granted to defendants’ predecessors in interest through a series of agreements. Specifically, in 1957 Harry and Rose Albert, Paul and Mary Fair Marrin, and F. Somers and Helen Peterson—three couples who owned neighboring properties on Fairway Drive in San Rafael—entered into the “Grant of Easements and Agreement” (the Original Grant). Each couple granted an easement “for roadway and public utility purposes” over the portion of their property traversed by the right of way described in the

1 We note that both parties requested oral argument in response to a

notice sent by this court’s clerk, as a matter of course, when the appeal was fully briefed. A party’s right to oral argument exists in any appeal “ ‘considered on the merits and decided by a written opinion.’ ” (Moles v. Regents of University of California (1982) 32 Cal.3d 867, 871; accord, Lewis v. Superior Court (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1232, 1254–1255.) Because we dismiss this appeal without…