Cooke v. Ramponi

In Cooke v. Ramponi (1952) 38 Cal.2d 282, the plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest had used a roadway over the defendants' property as the only usable roadway permitting access to plaintiffs' property for many years without interruption. (Id. at p. 283.) The use of the roadway was apparently always made with the consent of defendants' predecessors in interest. Several years before the commencement of the action, plaintiffs, with the consent of the defendants' predecessors in interest, began improving the roadway by straightening portions of the road, causing scraping and surfacing work to be done, and culverts to be built. (Id. at p. 284.) Over the following several years defendants' property changed ownership several times, but each new owner, including the defendants, permitted plaintiffs to maintain, repair and use the roadway at substantial expense to plaintiffs. Following these expenditures by plaintiffs, the defendants abruptly barricaded the roadway and notified the plaintiffs that they would no longer be permitted to use the roadway. (Cooke, supra, 38 Cal.2d at p. 285.) Plaintiffs then commenced their action seeking to establish their right to use of the road as a means of access to their property. (Ibid.) The trial court in Cooke, supra, 38 Cal.2d 282, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, granting them an "irrevocable license to use the road for the purposes of ingress and egress to and from their property," and the defendants appealed. (Id. at p. 286.) The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's ruling that the license was irrevocable for so long as the nature of the use required the continuance of the license. (Ibid.)