SL man wins easement over Inland Paper land

A Spirit Lake property owner was awarded an easement on timber land after suing a pulp company over the use of an access road.

Gerald Neeser sued Inland Empire Paper Company last year after the company insisted Neeser pay for a key to a locked gate to enter his 5.6 acres, which is behind Inland Paper holdings.

But a Coeur d’Alene judge ruled against the timber company last week, requiring it to allow Neeser to access land that has been considered residential property since 1938.

Neeser in 1999 purchased land in the Amadahi subdivision, a rural jumble of parcels on Spirit Lake’s southwestern shore, which used a logging road as access.

Inland Paper owns 600 acres surrounding the subdivision.

Two years after he bought the land, the Alaska contractor learned that a new Inland Paper policy included gating roads and requiring paid passes to enter the land.

He bought more lots after the policy was enacted and continued to use Inland Paper roads to access his holdings.

Neeser claimed that because he had used the land for almost a decade, and because previous landowners had used the roads across Inland Paper’s land for much longer, a prescriptive easement existed, allowing him the right to use the roads.

A prescriptive easement is an easement over another’s property acquired through continued use without permission of the landowner. State law determines the time frame required to acquire a prescriptive easement.

“Predecessors to Neeser used the same roads for access to the Neeser property, all without permission of approval,” according to the lawsuit.

Inland Paper did not give permission to Neeser to use the roads, and he did not ask the timber company for permission, according to the suit.

Three years ago, however, the company built gates and wanted Neeser to enter into an agreement that included paying $500 for a key to use the roads, but Neeser refused. He asked instead that the company give him a key, but it refused.

“The agreement could have unreasonably restricted Neeser’s ability to access his property,” according to the lawsuit.

First District Judge Lansing Haynes ruled that Neeser did have the right via a prescriptive easement to use the Inland Paper roads that gave him access to the land he bought before the company’s latest rules were adopted. The judge did not, however, give the right to use the roads to gain access to his other properties purchased after the company’s policies went into effect.