Rowland v. Woods, S89A0069
| Decision Date | 28 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. S89A0069,S89A0069 |
| Citation | 388 S.E.2d 684,259 Ga. 832 |
| Parties | ROWLAND et al. v. WOODS et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
M. McNeill Holloway, III, Thomson, for Rowland et al.
Samuel A. Fowler, Jr., Thomson, for Woods et al.
The appellees, Thomas R. Woods et al., are the owners of certain lots and a well in the Green Acres Mobile Home Park. The appellants, Harrison Rowland et al., are residents of Green Acres. The appellees' well serves as the source of water for Green Acres. Soon after appellant Rowland moved into Green Acres, the appellees wrote to inform him that: "Green Acres Mobile Home Park will no longer supply you water." The appellants unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent the appellees from terminating the water supply. The trial court found that there was no "covenant whatsoever in said deed placing any obligations upon the Defendants to furnish any water to any person at any price." We reverse.
When Green Acres was constructed, approximately fifteen years ago by Hutchinson Homes, Inc., pipes were laid that connected the subdivided lots to the well. Subsequently appellee Woods purchased certain lots including the well. He was aware at the time of purchase that the well was Green Acres' water source. He also testified that because of a "French drain" in the old portion of Green Acres that it is "complete[ly] impossibl[e]" to dig wells.
The appellees' desire to develop more property prompted a need for more water and the idea that they would deny any new owner the right to have water from their "private well." The residents were put on notice that if they sold their property the water supply would terminate with the sale.
1. The issue before us is whether the appellees can terminate the water supply to the lots as they are sold. The answer can be found in Glore v. Haggard, 38 Ga.App. 278, 143 S.E. 780 (1928), a case involving a quasi-easement or an easement implied from a prior or existing use.
A quasi-easement arises when the owner of an entire tract uses one part of the tract for the benefit of another and thereafter the tract is divided so that the benefited parcel, quasi-dominant estate, is separated from the burdened parcel, quasi-servient estate. If the quasi-dominant estate receives a benefit that is apparent, continuous, permanent in nature, and is necessary and beneficial to the enjoyment of the quasi-dominant estate, then an easement is implied from the prior use. Here, Hutchinson Homes, Inc., used one portion of its commonly owned property, the well, to benefit other portions of the property, water supply to the subdivided lots. The appellants' right to receive the water is ...
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