Harrison v. Knott
| Decision Date | 19 November 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 4-9597,4-9597 |
| Citation | 243 S.W.2d 642,219 Ark. 565 |
| Parties | , 28 A.L.R.2d 405 HARRISON v. KNOTT et al. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Eugene Coffelt, Bentonville, for appellant.
Claude Duty, Rogers, Vol T. Lindsey, Bentonville, for appellees.
Appellees, as owners of certain business properties in the City of Bentonville, Arkansas, brought this suit to enjoin Ben Moser and appellant, L. E. Harrison, from interfering with the use of an alleyway abutting appellees' buildings and to require them to remove all obstructions from said alleyway. The City of Bentonville was originally joined as a party plaintiff but subsequently withdrew from the suit.
After a lengthy hearing the chancellor entered a decree finding that appellees, their predecessors in title and the public generally had, through notorious, adverse and continuous usage for a period of more than fifty years, acquired an easement by prescription over the alleyway; that said easement should be continued for purpose of ingress and egress to and from the buildings abutting said alleyway and as a means of access to utility lines and for drainage over and under said lands; and that, since the filing of the suit, appellant L. E. Harrison obstructed the east end of the alleyway by placing a concrete building across it. The appellant L. E. Harrison was perpetually enjoined from interfering with the use of said alleyway and the court directed that a mandatory injunction issue requiring him to remove the concrete building within thirty days. L. E. Harrison has appealed and filed a supersedeas bond.
The alleyway in question is located between and behind two rows of store buildings facing north and south, respectively, in a business block which lies immediately south of, and adjacent to, the public square in the City of Bentonville. It is 19 1/2 feet wide and runs from 'A' Street on the east side of the block for a distance of 101 feet to the rear of a store building which faces west on Main Street. Appellant L. E. Harrison and his contractor, Ben Moser, commenced construction of a concrete block building, the north wall of which bordered the south line of the alleyway. When the building was nearing completion and after the filing of the instant suit, they extended the north wall of the building across the alleyway to another building on the north side of the block.
The great preponderance of the evidence supports the chancellor's finding that the alleyway in question has been used by the public generally and some of the owners and tenants of the abutting business houses and their predecessors for more than fifty years. Owners and tenants of the abutting business houses have for many years used the alleyway for the delivery of merchandise and materials to and from their places of business. Sewer and other utility lines have also traversed the area for many years and gas meters have been installed thereon.
Appellant insists that such use as has been made of the alleyway in question has been permissive and not adverse. It is also contended that the alleyway is not a public way or alley because it does not extend through the block to Main Street. The same contentions were made by the appellant in Robb & Rowley Theaters, Inc. v. Arnold, 200 Ark. 110, 138 S.W.2d 773, 776. In that case, as here, there was involved the long usage of a blind alley over an area which had never been formally dedicated to the public use. Under facts similar to those in the instant case, the court there said: 'We think appellant is in error [in insisting] that an easement beginning in permissive use cannot ripen into title thereto by long, open and continuous use. This court said in the case of McGill v. Miller, 172 Ark. 390, 288 S.W. 932, 934, that: ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lofton v. Lofton, CA
...in Ramsey was based, at least in part, on earlier supreme court cases involving a deed to land. For instance, in Harrison v. Knott, 219 Ark. 565, 243 S.W.2d 642 (1951), cited in Ramsey, the court held that where a husband purchases land and procures the deed to be made to his wife, the pres......
-
McKenzie v. Burris
...This remedy is, generally speaking, an equitable one lying within the jurisdiction of our chancery courts. Harrison v. Knott, 219 Ark. 565, 243 S.W.2d 642, 28 A.L.R.2d 405; Ex parte Kennedy, 11 Ark. 598. The undesirability of one court's interfering with proceedings pending in another of co......
-
Ramsey v. Ramsey
...Dickson v. Jonesboro Trust Co., 154 Ark. 155, 242 S.W. 57; Black v. Black, 199 Ark. 609, 135 S.W.2d 837. See also, Harrison v. Knott, 219 Ark. 565, 243 S.W.2d 642. Some courts base the tenancy upon an implied consideration that a wife who does not furnish any of the consideration to the thi......
-
U.S. v. Jepsen
...9 Ark.App. 170, 175-76, 656 S.W.2d 245 (1983) (citing Festinger v. Kantor, 272 Ark. 411, 616 S.W.2d 455 (1981); Harrison v. Knott, 219 Ark. 565, 243 S.W.2d 642 (1951)). Facts suggesting that a gift of the land was intended include: (1) the close relationship between the donor and the donees......