Pulido

This action began as one by several neighboring property owners to establish an easement for the purpose of access to their properties over land owned by Alfred Robert Pereira, Jr. (appellant). The property owners brought the action in 2007, following Pereira’s purchase of his property in 2006 and subsequent blocking of the entrance to Quartz Hill Drive, over which the neighbors claimed they had a prescriptive easement by virtue of their use and the use of their predecessors in interest for access to their properties.

The Pulidos (respondents) were named defendants in the suit by the neighbors, but no allegations of wrongdoing on the Pulidos’ part were included in the complaint. The Pulidos filed a cross-complaint against Pereira, alleging their right to an easement across Pereira’s property on several theories, including an easement by prescription. This appeal involves only the Pulidos’ cross-complaint.

The trial court found the Pulidos had satisfied their burden of proving the continuous, open, and notorious use of Quartz Hill Drive for the five-year prescriptive period. It granted a permanent injunction against Pereira “from interfering with the PULIDOS use and…