Flax v. Smith
Massachusetts Court of Appeals
479 N.E.2d 183 (1985)
One owner held three adjoining lots, with Lot A behind Lots B and C; water and sewer lines serving Lot A ran under Lots B and C since at least 1950. In 1966, the City of Boston took Lot A for unpaid taxes, and Steven Flax (plaintiff) later purchased it. When Herbert Smith (defendant), trustee for the owners of Lots B and C, tried to terminate the water and sewer easement, Flax sued to enforce an easement implied by prior use. Smith argued no easement could be implied because the original owner's loss of Lot A through a tax sale was involuntary, meaning he never intended to burden Lots B and C.
Whether an easement by prior use may be implied even if title to the dominant property passes involuntarily.