City of Ashland v. Hardesty

This is a suit for declaratory judgment in which the plaintiff, the City of Ashland, seeks a ruling that, in addition to certain deeded rights-of-way it possessed, it acquired by prescription an easement giving it a right-of-way across the defendants’ properties from the public street to the city’s sewage treatment plant. The trial court found that the city had acquired such an easement and one of the defendant property owners appeals. Since this is in the nature of a suit in equity, our review is de novo. Port of Portland v. Maxwell, 9 Or App 105, 110, 496 P2d 23 (1972).

The issues raised by…