MacDonald Properties, Inc. v. Bel-Air Country Club
California Court of Appeal
140 Cal. Rptr. 367 (1977)
In 1936, adjacent landowner Hilda Weber and Bel-Air Country Club (Bel-Air) (defendant) reached an agreement in which Weber received land for a new entrance and accepted building restrictions on a small tract used as golf-course rough (which received golf balls multiple times daily), while Bel-Air received a separate tunnel easement; Bel-Air continued using the small tract as rough for over 40 years without objection, even after Hilton purchased Weber's property in 1950 and MacDonald Properties, Inc. (MacDonald) (plaintiff) purchased a remainder interest in 1963. In 1974, Hilton and MacDonald sued for a declaratory judgment that Bel-Air held no easement to use the tract as rough, but the trial court found Bel-Air had acquired an easement by prescription, and they appealed.
Whether an easement by prescription may be obtained by open, notorious, continuous, adverse use, under claim of right, for a period of five years.