Trial Court Improperly Expanded Interference with Easement Injunction Beyond Relief Sought By Plaintiffs.

The defendants built a house on a 72.9 acre tract they purchased in 1992. In 1995, they commissioned a survey of the five-acre homestead portion of their property and in 2005, they recorded a “private road easement” for a 35-foot road leading to the tract. In 2007, the defendants sold all of their property, except for the five-acre homestead tract, to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs were aware of the roadway easement when they purchased the property. The plaintiffs granted the defendants the right to secure access to the private road (where it met the farm road) with a gate, so long as the gate contained a “buddy lock” to which the plaintiffs were granted access. At some point, the defendants secured the gate with a "non-buddy" lock and failed to give the plaintiffs a key. Consequently, the plaintiffs could not get their hay equipment in and out of their property. After the dispute between the parties escalated, the plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the defendants to prevent the defendants from taking action “inconsistent” with plaintiffs’ use and enjoyment of their property. The trial court entered judgment for the plaintiffs, including statements that the plaintiffs had the right to refuse to have a gate across the easement and that the defendants could never expand the scope of the easement. The defendants appealed, and the appellate court found that the trial court exceeded its authority in granting the plaintiffs the right to refuse the gate and in forever enjoining the defendants from expanding the easement. The plaintiffs had not raised these issues so they were not ripe for review. In all other respects, however, the judgment was affirmed.  Murdaugh v. Patterson, No. SD32619, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 758 (Mo. Ct. App. Jul. 9, 2014).