Lindsey v. Clark
Court of Appeals of Virginia
69 S.E.2d 342 (1952)
Clark (defendant) sold part of two lots to his daughter, reserving a ten-foot easement along the south line for access to his other lots; after the conveyance, Clark began using an adjacent area near the north line for that same access instead, and his daughter later built a house on the conveyed lots that encroached on the actual defined southerly easement. The lots were later sold and reconveyed to Lindsey (plaintiff), who disputed Clark's continued use of the (northerly) access way for parking and sued to enjoin further use, claiming Clark had abandoned his easement rights. The trial court found Clark had not abandoned the southerly easement, but declined to require Lindsey to remove the house's encroachment so long as Lindsey continued allowing Clark's northerly access; Lindsey appealed.
Whether, under Virginia law, non-use of an easement amounts to abandonment in the absence of evidence of intent to abandon or adverse use by the servient estate sufficient to establish a prescriptive easement.