Wetmore v. Ladies of Loretto, Wheaton

Wetmore (plaintiff) had granted the Ladies of Loretto (defendant) an express easement over his land to access a road, benefiting only Loretto's original ten-acre parcel; Loretto later bought an additional forty acres and built a road extending the easement's practical reach, and in 1962 it built a House of Studies straddling both the ten- and forty-acre tracts. Wetmore sued to enjoin the easement's use entirely, arguing the misuse from extending benefits to the forty acres could not be separated from the ten acres' legitimate use; the trial court agreed, found the uses inseparable, and enjoined the easement pending Loretto's ability to isolate its use to the ten acres.

Whether an easement will be extinguished where it has been misused by extending its benefit to land it does not serve, and it is impossible to separate the authorized from the unauthorized use.