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ROBERT ST. GERMAIN, SR. v. CALVIN D. HURD ET AL. (AC 32121)
Gruendel, Lavine and Dupont, Js. Argued March 9--officially released May 10, 2011

(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of Waterbury, Hon. Joseph H. Pellegrino, judge trial referee.) James P. Brennan, for the appellants (defendants). Eddi Z. Zyko, for the appellee (plaintiff).

Opinion

DUPONT, J. This appeal arises out of a dispute between neighbors over the defendants' use of the plaintiff's driveway to access the defendants' property and their use of a portion of the plaintiff's land adjacent to the driveway as a ``turnaround'' area for their cars. The court held that the defendants had acquired a prescriptive easement to use the plaintiff's driveway for ingress and egress from their home to West Main Street in Waterbury, but that they had failed to establish an easement over the turnaround area. The defendants appeal the court's refusal to render judgment for them as to their claim that they had a prescriptive right to use the turnaround area. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The following facts and procedural history are relevant to the defendants' claim. The defendants, Calvin D. Hurd and Bambi Hurd, own and reside at 1050 West Main Street in Waterbury. The plaintiff, Robert St. Germain, Sr., owns and resides at 1048 West Main Street in Waterbury, which lies immediately south of the defendants' property. Running along the western border of the plaintiff's property is a paved driveway that is twelve feet wide and connects the defendants' property to West Main Street. The driveway is wide enough to accommodate only one vehicle at a time. The defendants use this driveway for ingress and egress to their property.1 The plaintiff also maintains a separate paved area that lies directly south of his home and east of the driveway, which he uses for parking and turning around his car. The defendants claim that they also use and have used for more than fifteen years this turnaround area to turn their vehicles to drive forward in a southerly direction toward West Main Street. As a result of such use, they do not have to drive in reverse the full length of the driveway in order to enter safely West Main Street, which is a busy public thoroughfare. The plaintiff commenced an action for a declaratory judgment seeking, among other things, to exclude the defendants from the turnaround area. The defendants filed a special defense claiming a prescriptive right to use the turnaround area and filed a counterclaim seeking a judgment settling a right-of-way or easement pursuant to General Statutes

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Connecticut Law