Cedar Beach casenote
Casenote: Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters, Inv. v. Gables Real Estate LLC (July 19, 2016)
The Maine Supreme Court overturned a 2014 lower court decision that had found a prescriptive easement was held by the public over a beach access road in Harpswell. The 2014 decision, which was an unusual 73 pages long, declared that the general public had acquired the right to use the road to reach Cedar Beach. In overturning the earlier ruling, the Supreme Court found that the elements of adversity and nonacquiescence were not established, therefore the claim of a public prescriptive easement failed. Specifically the court found the efforts to prevent the public use of the road by someone who only held easement rights to use the road could prevent the establishment of a prescriptive easement.