Troll

Facts and Procedural Background

Defendant and appellant Raymond T. Troll, individually and as executor of the estate of J. A. Troll (collectively hereafter referred to as Troll), is the owner of real estate in Indio, California. Plaintiff and respondent Diamond Benefits Life Insurance Company (Diamond) is the owner of real estate adjacent to that owned by Troll. Diamond owns and operates a golf course known as the Indian Springs Country Club on its property.

When the golf course was developed by a previous owner, two of the holes of the course were constructed (apparently inadvertently) on Troll’s property. When this was discovered, Troll and the previous owner of the golf course negotiated a settlement of the property dispute. In the settlement, by grant of easement, Troll and the previous owner of the golf course created various easements that accrued to the benefit of Troll. His property was the dominant tenement and the golf course, or portions thereof, became the servient tenement. The easements consisted of: (1) rights of access at different locations across portions of the golf course property; (2) the right to drain water from the dominant tenement onto the…