Fobbs v. Smith

JEFFERSON, J. Plaintiffs and defendants are owners of adjoining and contiguous parcels of residential realty located on the north side of 49th Street in the City of Los Angeles. Plaintiffs’ parcel is to the west of defendants’ property.*

In 1923, a common grantor of both parcels by duly recorded deed created and reserved reciprocal easements for use as a common driveway for the benefit of the predecessors in title of the parties to this action. The easements covered the west four feet of the south fifty feet of defendants’ parcel and the east four feet of the south fifty of plaintiffs’ parcel.

Plaintiffs first resided on their parcel as lessees in 1936. At the curb-line of the western portion of the adjoining parcel there was a concrete ramp or apron. Straddling the property line, at the rear of the parcels was a joint garage. The west half of the garage was used by the owners of plaintiffs’ parcel, and the east half of the garage was used by the owners of defendants’ parcel. Leading from the apron to the joint [212]garage, was a driveway. The distance from the front of the garage to the southern property line was 81.9 feet.

In 1939, plaintiffs purchased the parcel they had been leasing. The garage burned in 1940, and it was rebuilt by a former owner of defendants’ parcel. Thereafter the building was used for storage. No cars entered the structure after 1941. It has remained the same since 1940, except for a change in some flooring.

Because of the location of the ramp on defendants’ parcel, the distance from the curb to the garage, and the existence of a concrete walk adjoining plaintiffs’ house only two feet from the boundary between the parcels, the area used by plaintiffs for a driveway from 1936 to 1960 did not coincide with the express easement of 4 by 50 feet, but instead covered a portion of defendants’ parcel which was 7 by 81.9 feet.

From 1936 to 1948, the driveway was used by Mr. and Mrs. Fobbs, their daughter, and social guests. This use was without the permission of the owners of the adjoining parcel who were aware of the activities of plaintiffs.

In 1948, defendants purchased their parcel, and from 1948 to 1960, plaintiffs continued to use the driveway without the permission of defendants. After a heated argument in 1960, defendants erected a fence approximately six inches from the west boundary line of their property which bisected the express easement and extended from the front of the property to the garage. The fence obstructed the driveway, as well as the plaintiffs’ portion of the joint garage.