Rexroat v. Thorell

The plaintiffs, William G. and Mary Ruth Rexroat, sought a declaratory judgment setting forth their right of access across an old roadway crossing a wooded pasture owned by the defendant, Russell Thorell, and servicing a small field on the plaintiffs’ farm. Accessibility to the field from other than the old roadway is limited, because a stream running through the plaintiffs’ farm cuts off ready access to the seven-acre tract.

The plaintiffs sought relief on three theories. Two of those theories, namely, that an easement should be implied in law by necessity and that the plaintiffs and their…