Moores v. Walsh (38 Cal. App. 4th 1046, 1995)

Opinion

MERRILL, J.

Appellants William M. and Tona E. Moores brought this action for declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming that they had an easement over property owned by respondent William D. Walsh. Following a court trial, judgment was entered in favor of respondent. We affirm.

I.

Background

In 1993, appellants purchased a 40-acre parcel of unimproved land (the Moores parcel) in Mendocino County from the Regents of the University of California (The Regents), pursuant to a public bidding process, for the purpose of logging the timber on the property. Bid documents provided by The Regents regarding the Moores parcel provided that “there may not currently be any legal surface access to the Property.” Respondent William Walsh owns property on three sides of the Moores parcel, to the north, west, and south (the Walsh parcel). Other private parties own the property to the east of the Moores parcel. Part of the Walsh parcel is between the Moores parcel and Highway One. Appellants claim an easement to cross over the Walsh parcel to Highway One for all purposes, including logging. There was no evidence that prior owners of the Moores parcel ever claimed such an easement.

Evidence was presented that the Moores parcel and the Walsh parcel were once both owned by the federal government. The Moores parcel was granted to the State of California by the United States as part of a “school lands” grant in 1873, leaving it landlocked on all sides by federally owned land. The state conveyed the property to The Regents in 1978. The Walsh property consists of what was once six parcels conveyed by the United States to private owners between 1874 and 1881.

II.

Discussion

A. Easement by Implication

Appellants contend that an easement arose by implication over respondent’s land. An easement by implication requires the following conditions: “1. There must be a common ownership of a parcel and a transfer or conveyance of one parcel, or a portion of a parcel, to another, [f] 2. Prior to the division of title, there must have been an existing obvious, and apparently permanent, use of the quasi-easement by the common owner. [