SunTrust Bank v. Fletcher

In SunTrust Bank v. Fletcher, 248 Ga. App. 729 (548 SE2d 630) (2001), the adjacent property owner put in parking spaces which blocked the bank's drive-through lane that emptied onto that property. SunTrust sued, claiming that the adjacent property owner was blocking its use of the property. The Court held that the property owner could rearrange buildings, parking and walkways, thus forcing the Bank to rearrange its point of egress onto the adjacent property, as long as the easement was maintained. Id. at 731-733. The developer conveyed to SunTrust's predecessor in title, also a bank, a parcel, known as Tract A, ... together with the following easement: "a non-exclusive easement license, right and privilege of passage for pedestrians and vehicular ingress and egress over and across all portions of the common areas of the adjacent shopping center owned by Grantor. ..." In the same deed, the developer retained certain rights with the following words: "The adjacent property owner shall have the right to relocate buildings, walkways and parking areas in any manner whatsoever and the easement ... shall then apply to the area so established." Id. at 730.