Northern Utilities, Inc. v. City of South Portland

SCOLNIK, Justice.

The Defendant, City of South Portland (“the City”) appeals from a declaratory judgment rendered by the Superior Court (Cumberland County) after a two day trial before the court without a jury, declaring that an easement owned by Northern Utilities, Inc. (“Northern”) prohibited the City from requiring Toys “R” Us to build a sidewalk over an underground pipeline on Northern’s easement.

In 1982 Northern acquired an easement on private land to protect a natural gas transmission pipeline running beside the Maine Mall Road in South Portland. 1 The pipeline was buried three to six…