Property Law Developments—Joseph William Singer

The Vermont Supreme Court has adopted the rule promoted by the Restatement (Third) of Property (Servitudes), §4.8(3), allowing the owner of a servient estate to relocate an easement if this does not reduce the utility of the easement to the owner of the dominant estate. Roy v. Woodstock Cmty. Trust, Inc., 94 A.3d 530 (Vt. 2014). The case concerned an underground easement for water lines.

The court also held that the dominant estate owner was entitled to build a housing complex and that this development did not exceed the scope of a right-of-way easement even though it had been originally used only by a church.