Rose v. Parsons
Annotate this CaseThis case involved two potential easements across oceanfront property that provided access to two beaches. Charles Parsons once owned all of the property involved. In 1915, a plan divided the property into lots and identified several roads. One of the lots, commonly referred to as the Farm Lot, was owned by Helen Rose and Nathaniel Merrill, who acquired title to the lot by deed from their father. The father, in turn, inherited the property through the residuary clause of his wife Helen's will. Rose and Merrill filed a complaint asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the owners of the Farm Lot had the right to use easements over two roads based on chain of title or adverse possession. Defendants, several neighbors, filed a counterclaim asking for a declaratory judgment that Rose and Merrill did not have the right to use the easements. The court found that merger extinguished the easements and no later deed revived the easements. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that even if the easements were established through merger, Helen's codicil established easements for the benefit of the Farm Lot. Remanded for consideration of whether the easements created by the codicil still existed or were abandoned.
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