Bonnie M. Combs-DeMaio Living Trust v. Kilby Butte Colony, Inc., 2005 MT 71

Summary

The Supreme Court of Montana affirmed a judgment rejecting the Bonnie M. Combs-DeMaio Living Trust's claim that it had established a prescriptive easement over land owned by Kilby Butte Colony, Inc. The court held that the evidence of historical use was insufficient to prove the required elements by clear and convincing evidence and declined to address whether any easement had later been extinguished.

Holdings

1. The Trust failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the roadway was used openly, notoriously, exclusively, adversely, continuously, and uninterruptedly for the applicable statutory period; therefore, no prescriptive easement was established.
2. The court did not reach the extinguishment issue because the Trust failed to establish that a prescriptive easement ever existed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the District Court erred in finding that the Trust failed to establish a prescriptive easement.
2. Whether the District Court erred in finding that any prescriptive easement that may have existed was extinguished.

Disposition

affirmed