Wetmore v. Ladies of Loretto, Wheaton case brief

Wetmore v. Ladies of Loretto, Wheaton case brief summary
220 N.E. 2d 491 (1966)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant grantee sought review of the judgment from the Circuit Court for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit of DuPage County (Illinois) that found in favor of plaintiff grantor in an action grantor brought to enjoin grantee's use of an easement.

CASE FACTS
Defendant grantee appealed the judgment from the trial court that found in favor of plaintiff grantor in an action grantor brought to enjoin grantee's use of an easement that grantor had previously granted to grantee when he had first sold a 10-acre tract of land to grantee.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The trial court had found that there was no implied easement upon conveyance of a subsequent 40-acre tract to the grantee; that grantee's use of the 10 and 40-acre tracts could not be segregated; and that the express easement appurtenant to the 10-acre tract had been abandoned and suspended by operation of law.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, the court reversed. It found that the land conveyed to the grantee gave it direct access to a public road. 
• Under such circumstances, an easement by implication was not sanctioned. 
• The court concluded that the trial court should have awarded nominal damages to grantee for the trespasses of grantor. 
• Grantee was entitled to an injunction sought in its counterclaim, restraining grantor and his agents from wrongful entries upon grantee's property and from interfering with grantee's proper use of the express easement.

CONCLUSION
The decree that found in favor of owner in an action to enjoin corporation's use of an easement was reversed and the cause remanded.


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