Estojak v. Mazsa

Although the municipality never formally accepted or opened Yeates and East Union Streets for public use despite their dedication in a recorded subdivision plan, the Mazsas and Johnsons (defendants), who bought adjoining properties in the 1950s, treated the land as an extension of their own yards for decades -- including a driveway and planted trees -- without restricting access, until the Estojaks (plaintiffs) bulldozed a roadway over East Union Street to access newly purchased lots, prompting the defendants to erect a fence; the parties stipulated ownership of the street land had reverted to the defendants, but disputed whether their decades of yard use had also extinguished any easement, with the trial court and Superior Court both finding the easement extinguished by adverse possession.