## Facts

- John J. and Doris E. Plettner, and Joel A. and Bernice Plettner (Plettners) purchased a tract in 1962 from Lehar Valley Farms, also known as Fremont Hatchery (Hatchery).
- A north–south road provided access to the Plettner tract, which lay west of the road. The Hatchery’s tract lay east of the road.
- On the Hatchery’s land east of the road were two buildings referred to as chickenhouse #3 and chickenhouse #4; the road ran parallel to the length of chickenhouse #4.
- The Plettners believed their east boundary line was located 10 feet west of the chicken houses, and they treated the land west of that believed line (including the road area they used for access) as part of their ownership and access route.
- The Hatchery did not conduct its activities on land lying west of the road during the relevant period.
- In 1963, the Plettners planted a row of trees about 20 feet west of chickenhouse #4 and parallel to the road.
- From 1971 to 1973, the Plettners built three cabins west of the road, and the road was the only access to those cabins.
- In 1972, the Plettners improved the road by making it “rock-topped.”
- The Hatchery ceased operations in 1978. On July 28, 1979, Earl W. Sullivan, Sr. and Ruth E. Sullivan (Sullivans) bought the Hatchery’s tract east of the road.
- After purchasing, the Sullivans obtained a survey showing the record boundary for the Plettner tract was actually 30 feet west of the chicken houses (placing a strip of land the Plettners had been using within the Sullivans’ deed description, and placing at least part of the road on Sullivan record title).
- On August 8, 1979, the Sullivans erected a fence on the road that blocked the Plettners’ access to their property.
- The Plettners filed a quiet-title action seeking title to the disputed strip by adverse possession and seeking roadway access rights. The trial court quieted title to land west of a line located 10 feet from the chicken houses in the Plettners and also awarded each side a prescriptive easement on the other’s land (a reciprocal-easement arrangement). The Sullivans appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the Plettners proved they acquired title by adverse possession to the strip of land lying west of a line 10 feet west of the chicken houses, even though the record boundary was farther west.
2. Whether the Plettners proved a prescriptive easement to use the roadway to access their property where the road (or part of it) lay within the Sullivans’ record title.
3. Whether the evidence supported the trial court’s award of a reciprocal prescriptive easement in favor of the Sullivans over the portion of the road/area awarded to the Plettners.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s determination that the Plettners acquired title by adverse possession to the disputed land west of a line 10 feet from the chicken houses.
- The court affirmed that the Plettners established a prescriptive easement over the portion of the access road located on the Sullivans’ record title, based on long, continuous, claim-of-right use for access.
- The court reversed the portion of the decree granting the Sullivans a reciprocal prescriptive easement over land awarded to the Plettners, finding the record did not support prescriptive rights for the Sullivans.
- Disposition: affirmed in part as modified and reversed in part.

## Legal Principles

- To obtain title by adverse possession in Nebraska, a claimant must prove actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile possession under a claim of ownership, continuously for the statutory period (10 years).
- Hostility for adverse possession is satisfied when the claimant occupies and uses the land as the claimant’s own, even if the claimant’s belief about the true boundary is mistaken.
- A prescriptive easement requires proof that the use was open, notorious, continuous, and adverse under a claim of right for the prescriptive period.
- A court may not grant a prescriptive easement simply to balance the parties’ interests; each party seeking an easement must prove the required elements through its own (or its predecessor’s) qualifying use.

## Conclusion

The Nebraska Supreme Court left intact the quiet-title award to the Plettners based on adverse possession of the strip measured from the chicken houses and also upheld the Plettners’ prescriptive right to continue using the access road where it lay on Sullivan record title, but it removed the trial court’s reciprocal-easement award because the Sullivans did not prove the elements needed for a prescriptive easement.


Plettner v. Sullivan, 214 Neb. 636 (1983)