Barlow
Cottonwood Duplexes v. Barlow
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Robie, J.
In this quiet title action, the trial court narrowed and shortened a road and utility easement that a predecessor of plaintiff Cottonwood Duplexes, LLC (Cottonwood), had granted to defendant Seth Barlow because, in the court’s view, “the reasonable use requirements of [Barlow’s property] both presently and in the future do not require the full size and scope of the [original] easement.”
On appeal, Barlow asserts that no “recognized rule of law . . . authorized [the trial court] to terminate [his] property rights” by reducing the size of his easement against his will, no matter what the evidence showed. We agree. Accordingly, we will reverse.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In August 1978, Ned Gatchett recorded a parcel map dividing certain property adjacent to Interstate 5 in Shasta County into four parcels. (A copy of the recorded parcel map No. 833-78 is attached as appen. A to this opinion.) Parcel No. 4 was adjacent to the south side of Rhonda Road. Parcels Nos. 1, 2, and 3 lay next to each other south of parcel No. 4, with the north side of each parcel adjacent to the south side of parcel No. 4. (Parcel No. 1 was the westernmost of the three parcels; parcel No.…