M.N.V. Holdings LC v. 200 South LLC
M.N.V. Holdings LC v. 200 South LLC, 2021 UT App 61 (Harris, J.)
Property
Since 1995, MNV owned property in downtown Salt Lake, and its parking lots were accessible only by three routes, all of which crossed another owner’s property, one of which was Developer’s property. When Developer sought to build a high-rise apartment on its property, MNV sought a declaratory judgment that recognized the existence of a prescriptive easement in favor of MNV over Developer’s land. The district court denied that request, reasoning that MNV’s use of Developer’s land was not continuous because MNV’s invitees used three different routes to enter MNV’s property. The Utah Court of Appeals reversed, holding:
- A claimant’s use of multiple distinct routes over the servient estate does not, by itself, operate to defeat the claimant’s ability to meet the “continuous” element of the prescriptive easement test. A court should analyze each claimed route on its own merits, and if a claimant can show continuous use on at least one route for 20 years, the continuity element is met. But out of equity, a district court may designate one out of many routes as the defined prescriptive easement.