King v. Wu

Filed 8/14/13

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

MICHAEL G. KING et al. B239801 Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YC060847) v.

CHUNG H. WU et al.

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Dudley W. Gray II, Judge. Reversed.

Hennelly & Grossfeld and Michael G. King for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Law Offices of Bennett A. Rheingold and Bennett A. Rheingold for Defendants and Respondents.

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Michael and Linda King brought action to quiet title over a strip of land on their neighbors’ property over which they claimed to have obtained a prescriptive easement. The trial court granted their neighbors’ summary adjudication motion. We reverse.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Fred and Viola Fluckiger bought their property on June 24, 1960. Shortly thereafter they poured a concrete driveway partly encroaching on the neighboring property. The strip of driveway on the neighboring property (“prescriptive strip”) is approximately eight inches wide and ninety feet long. The Kings bought the Fluckiger lot in July 1994. They used the concrete driveway for ingress and egress to their garage and for parking in the rear of the driveway. On March 29, 1963, Chung H. Wu, Cindy Wu, and Yu Tsen Wu, as Trustee of the Chung Han Wu Revocable Trust of 1993 (the “Wus”) became the owners of the property neighboring the Fluckigers. On October 16, 2009, they began constructing a metal guardrail over the prescriptive strip. Three days later the Kings filed a complaint seeking to quiet title over the prescriptive strip and asserting claims for trespass and declaratory relief. The Wus’ answer claimed in an affirmative defense that the Wus had not had a possessory interest in their property until 2008. The Wus also filed a cross-complaint seeking injunctive relief and damages for trespass.