VICKIE ROBNETT V. EDWARD H. TENISON, J.R.
(Tenn. Ct. App. September 23, 2008).
The issue is whether a court-ordered easement by necessity for ingress and egress to landlocked property may be terminated on the ground it is no longer necessary because the landlocked owner has an express easement through which that owner has reasonable, although not as desirable, ingress and egress. The trial court denied the petition to terminate the easement by necessity upon a finding it would place an undue burden on the landlocked property owner to have it terminated. We have determined the trial court applied an incorrect legal standard, that of undue burden, to deny the petition to terminate the easement at issue. Easements by necessity are dependent on the necessity that created them; therefore, a way of necessity continues only as long as a necessity for its use continues. The fact that the way of necessity would be the most convenient does not prevent its extinguishment when it ceases to be absolutely necessary. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the trial court.
Opinion may be found at the TBA website:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/
"The existence of an easement by necessity is dependent on the necessity that created it. 28A C.J.S. Easements § 161 (2008). Therefore, “a way of necessity continues as long, but only as long, as a necessity for its use continues.” Id. (emphasis added). “If an easement for a particular purpose is granted, when that purpose no longer exists, there is an end of the easement.” McGiffin v. City of Gatlinburg, 260 S.W.2d 152, 154 (Tenn. 1953) (quoting Washburn, Treatise on Easement, 654 (3d ed.)). “The fact that a former way of necessity continues to be the most convenient way will not prevent its extinguishment when it ceases to be absolutely necessary.” Id.
