Scher

INTRODUCTION

This is a dispute between landowners about the right to vehicular access over two roads in the unincorporated Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles County. After trial to the bench, the court ruled that the two roads had been dedicated as public streets, and that plaintiffs, Jaime A. Scher and Jane McAllister, had an implied easement over the roads for access to their property. Defendants,1 all of whom own land along the two roads south of plaintiffs’ property, appeal from the portion of the judgment burdening their land and enjoining them from obstructing vehicular access. The court also found that plaintiffs had not established their right to an express, prescriptive, or equitable easement for access along the roads and across defendants’ properties. Plaintiffs appeal from this part of the judgment in favor of defendants. In the published portion of this opinion, we hold that Civil Code section 1009 bars all use of non-coastal private real property, not simply recreational use of such property, from ever ripening into an implied dedication to the public after the effective date of that statute. Hence, the trial court erred in considering evidence about use of the…