Donahue

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is the owner of certain residential real property located at 2374 North Cameron Avenue in Covina, California (the Donahue property). Defendants own the adjoining property located at 2376 North Cameron Avenue (the Kuntz property). Primary access to both properties is a private road along the south side of both parcels. At the rear of both properties is a natural creek channel. After plaintiff purchased the Donahue property in 2003, a dispute arose between the parties concerning an existing fence that separated their two properties, the location of the legal boundary line, and plaintiff’s use of a recorded easement over the Kuntz property in favor of the Donahue property. A dispute also arose over plaintiff’s construction or improvement of a roadway on their property. The construction included filling in a portion of the creek channel located at the rear of the Donahue property and replacing an existing 18-inch drainage pipe and culvert in the creek channel with an 36- inch drainage pipe. The construction resulted in a substantial elevation of the roadway as it passed over the streambed, extension of the supporting slope, and subsequent erosion of the built up…