December 22, 2020

Chris Callanan obtained a defense verdict on behalf of homeowner Gabriela Varano after a one-day jury waived trial before Hon. William J. Ritter in the Worcester Superior Court on November 9, 2021. The dispute involved a common driveway running over both sides of adjoining property in Clinton, Massachusetts. Varano's neighbor sued alleging adverse use sufficient to obtain a prescriptive easement over the portion of the driveway residing on Varano's land. The neighbors alternatively argued entitlement to an easement by necessity. Judge Ritter denied both of plaintiff's claims crediting evidence offered by Varano that the neighbors' long-time use of the shared driveway was permissive, not adverse, and that alternative means of egress precluded a finding of easement by necessity.