## Facts

- Hellberg leased about 3,000 acres from Coffin for a 10-year term (1958–1967) with an agreement to purchase at the lease’s end.
- The leased parcel was effectively landlocked, surrounded primarily by Coffin’s land, except for a well-defined route known as the “old Coffin road” connecting the parcel to Primary State Highway No. 8.
- The old Coffin road crossed multiple sections owned or controlled by Coffin before reaching the leased property.
- Coffin padlocked a gate at the road’s intersection with the highway, blocking Hellberg’s ingress and egress.
- Coffin asserted an alternative access route existed, but the trial court found no other practicable road provided access to the highway or out of the area.
- Hellberg sued for an injunction against interference and for a declaration that the road was public; the trial court granted injunctive relief and also found public-road and private-easement grounds supporting access.

## Issues

1. Whether Hellberg had a legally protected right to use the old Coffin road to reach the leased, landlocked property.
2. Whether that right rested on an easement by necessity, an implied easement appurtenant, or the road’s alleged status as a public highway.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the injunction preventing Coffin from interfering with Hellberg’s use of the old Coffin road.
- The court held Hellberg was entitled to access either as a way (easement) of necessity or as an implied easement appurtenant to the leased land.
- Because either private-easement theory supported affirmance, the court declined to address whether the road was a public highway by public use or by public maintenance.

## Legal Principles

- When a land interest is conveyed or leased in a manner that leaves the property without practicable access, a way of necessity may be implied over the grantor/lessor’s remaining land to permit ingress and egress.
- An implied easement appurtenant may arise from prior common control and the apparent, established, and expected continuation of an existing route serving the conveyed or leased parcel.
- An appellate court may affirm injunctive relief on sufficient private-law grounds without deciding broader public-road theories.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Hellberg’s right to use the old Coffin road and affirmed an injunction against Coffin’s obstruction, concluding that the landlocked character of the leased parcel supported access by necessity and, independently, by an implied easement appurtenant.


Hellberg v. Coffin Sheep Co., 404 P.2d 770 (Wash. 1965)