Nicholls v. Healy

The basic issue in this case is whether defendants’ evidence at trial level was sufficient to extinguish plaintiffs’ easement on the theory of adverse possession.

Plaintiffs’ five-foot-wide easement was created by a deed and runs over the defendants’ property. The trial court eliminated plaintiffs’ rights of passage over the easement but preserved their right to construct and maintain a waterline.

In Michigan use of an easement by the owner of the servient estate will not ripen into adverse possession unless such use is inconsistent with the easement. Greve v. Caron (1925), 233 Mich 261; Harr…