Ralph P. Gallo & a. v. Susan Traina & a.

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed a superior court judgment concerning a quiet-title dispute involving adverse possession and prescriptive easement rights. The court held that the Gallos acquired by adverse possession the land beneath their retaining wall, stone wall, and plantings, and that their adverse use extinguished the Trainas' claimed easement over part of an adjoining strip.

Holdings

1. The Trainas' fence, occasional yard work, and other entries did not interrupt the Gallos' exclusive adverse possession because the conduct did not oust the Gallos or constitute a co-occurring use of the land.
2. The Gallos' open, notorious, and adverse use of the area west of the paved driveway for more than twenty years extinguished any right the Trainas may have obtained to pass over that area.
3. The Superior Court's determinations were not erroneous as a matter of law or unsupported by the evidence, and the judgment was affirmed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Gallos acquired by adverse possession the land beneath their retaining wall, decorative stone wall, and burning bush despite the Trainas' entries, landscaping, surveying, and fence installation.
2. Whether the Gallos' adverse possession of the area west of the paved driveway extinguished any easement right the Trainas acquired over that area.
3. Whether the trial court's quiet-title determinations were erroneous as a matter of law or unsupported by the evidence.

Disposition

affirmed