Block v. Sexton

For over forty years, Sexton (defendant) used a field road crossing land owned by the Billigs to access her unimproved parcel each year from May to October, continuing even after gates and a lock were installed. When Sexton sold her land, the buyers, the Blocks (plaintiffs), claimed a prescriptive easement across the Billigs' property based on Sexton's decades of use; the district court agreed, finding the seasonal use open, visible, continuous, and uncontested, and granted a seasonal easement limited to a 20-foot width. The Billigs appealed.