Castle Associates v. Schwartz
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
409 N.Y.S.2d 79 (App. Div. 1978)
A 1903 deed granted the southwest parcel of William Simpson's original tract an easement to access Bay Avenue across what later became the southeast parcel, while also stipulating that a road (of undefined location) would open once any Bay Avenue-bordering parcel sold; that road was never opened when the northeast parcel sold in 1907, without objection. In 1946, Knutson (defendant) bought the southeast parcel and built a fence around it, and Castle Associates (plaintiff), which had since acquired the other three parcels, later discovered the 1903 easement provision and demanded access through Knutson's land to develop the southwest parcel, which Knutson refused; the trial court found the easement had been extinguished by merger when a prior owner, Ferguson, briefly held all three non-southeast parcels together, and Castle Associates appealed.
Whether an owner of a servient estate can acquire title to an unextinguished easement through adverse possession by constructing a barrier before the need for that easement has actually arisen.