Teresa A. Frech v. Carl F. Piontkowski

Summary

The court held that an abutting landowner may acquire a prescriptive easement for recreational use over a nonnavigable, artificial reservoir because the reservoir is governed by the same property-law principles as other real estate. It further held that the evidence supported the trial court’s findings that the plaintiffs’ use was open, continuous, uninterrupted, and under a claim of right, and that the plaintiffs’ properties extended to the reservoir’s edge. The court therefore affirmed the judgment rejecting the defendants’ title and trespass claims.