Stalberg

Defendant Western Title Insurance Company (Western) appeals the judgment in plaintiffs’ favor entered on a jury verdict. Western assigns multiple errors. Western contends that all of plaintiffs’ causes of action are barred by the applicable statutes of limitations. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 337, Former 338, subds. 1 & 7, 339, subd. 1, 343.) Western contends the trial court committed instructional error, and that substantial evidence does not support the verdict on any cause of action. We conclude there was instructional error, and affirm in part and reverse in part.

Facts and Procedural Background

This lawsuit grew out of a prior lawsuit settling the rights of Casa Loma residents to an easement in a road. The Casa Loma area is a rural, ecologically sensitive part of Santa Clara County located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Morgan Hill, between San Jose and Gilroy. The road affording the only ingress and egress for upstream landowners near Twin Falls Creek follows along that creek, at and above its confluence with Llagas Creek. The narrow dirt road, variable in width but at most 10 feet wide, runs beside the creek. (See Thomson v. Dypvik (1985) 174…