## Facts

- In 1963, Margaret Green’s father bought land in St. Clair County, Alabama, and also acquired from the United States a “perpetual road right-of-way easement” over adjoining land.
- The easement grant did not state a specific purpose; it broadly conveyed a perpetual road right-of-way.
- In 1967–1968, creation of Neeley Lake flooded part of Green’s father’s land, including the area where the easement previously connected; the flooded area remained underwater, and the easement no longer met the upland portion above the water line.
- In 1981, Luther and Shelba Tatum (and Don and Ray Deena Swain) bought the servient land burdened by the easement; Green inherited the dominant land the same year.
- Green continued using the right-of-way to reach the area of the former property and lakefront; the Tatums objected, asserting the easement’s purpose had failed due to flooding.

## Issues

1. Whether a “perpetual road right-of-way easement” is extinguished when flooding submerges the portion of the dominant land to which the easement previously connected, such that the right-of-way no longer reaches the upland above the water line.
2. Whether, given a grant not expressly limited to a specific purpose, the easement terminates under the rule that a purpose-limited easement ends when its purpose becomes impossible.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the judgment for Green.
- The court held the easement was not extinguished by the flooding and remained valid.
- Because the easement remained valid, Green’s use was authorized and the Tatums’ claims for declaratory relief and damages for trespass and nuisance were properly denied.

## Legal Principles

- An easement granted for a specific purpose terminates when that purpose ceases to exist, is abandoned, or becomes impossible to accomplish.
- The scope of an easement is determined primarily from the granting instrument.
- If the grant language is ambiguous or uncertain, courts may consider surrounding circumstances and the parties’ practical construction to determine intent.
- A broadly worded, “perpetual” right-of-way is not terminated by changed physical conditions unless the easement is shown to have been limited to a purpose that has become impossible.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that a broadly granted “perpetual” road right-of-way was not shown to be limited to providing access to a particular upland connection point, and surrounding circumstances supported continued utility after the lake’s creation; therefore, flooding did not extinguish the easement, and the servient owners’ trespass and nuisance claims failed.


Tatum v. Green, 535 So. 2d 87 (Ala. 1988)