Easements may be moved without dominant owner's agreement
In St. James Village, Inc. v. Cunningham, the Nevada Supreme Court held that an easement can be relocated over the objection of the dominant estate owner, provided the new location reasonably preserves the value of the easement, and the original grant did not preclude relocation and did not specifically name the easement’s location.. The Court adopted § 4.8 of the Restatement (Third) of Property, which places focus of the easement on its purpose and utility, rather than its original location.
In so holding, the Court backed off of a statement in Swenson v. Strout Realty, Inc., 85 Nev. 236, 239, 452 P.2d 972, 974 (1969) asserting that relocation of an easement without agreement of the owners of both the dominant and subservient estate, was overbroad.
In the case at hand, the deed did set forth the specific location of the easement, the easement could not be altered without the permission of the dominant estate owner.
The 6-0 opinion, issued June 25, 2009, was authored by Hardesty, with Justice Pickering not participating
