Real Property – Prescriptive Easement – ‘Hostility’ – Gravel Road – Tacking

Myers v. Clodfelter (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-188-16, 9 pp.) (John Tyson, J.) Appealed from Davidson County Superior Court (Ted Royster Jr., J.) N.C. App.

Holding: In this prescriptive easement case, where (1) plaintiffs or their predecessors in title have used Coe Road to access their properties for more than 60 years, (2) plaintiffs never asked defendants for permission to use the road, (3) defendants never gave plaintiffs permission to use the road, (4) plaintiffs have used the road by claim of right, and (5) plaintiffs have maintained the road, plaintiffs have rebutted the presumption of permissive use and proved the “hostility” element required to establish a prescriptive easement.

We affirm the trial court’s decision that plaintiffs possess a non-exclusive perpetual prescriptive easement in Coe Road.