Hersh Properties v. McDonald’s Corporation

In 1944 the Robinsons split their Torrens-registered property, later selling half (the "Hersh Parcel") along with a signage easement over their retained parcel; the Hersh Parcel eventually passed to Hersh Properties (plaintiff) in 1995, with the conveyance expressly referencing the easement. In 1984 the Robinsons conveyed the retained parcel, burdened by the easement per its own certificate of title, to McDonald's Corporation (defendant). When Hersh sought to place signage under the easement in 1995, McDonald's refused and challenged the easement's validity under the Marketable Title Act (the act), arguing Hersh's predecessors had failed to file the sworn notice the act requires to preserve an easement; Hersh countered that McDonald's lacked the requisite source of title to even invoke the act.