Driveway Easement Dispute in Maine

a problem has been festering for a while now with our neighbors. about 6 years ago the drive way in between the two houses was shared by both party's. something happened while i was away at school and they happened to kick out my mother from parking in said driveway. (see pic here http://martel.aaron.googlepages.com/pic.JPG )

once they kicked my mother out they had the driveway tared, and it happens to slop into our land and into our foundation. during heavy rain it noticeably flows toward our foundation and onto our land. now that snow is here their plow driver puts the snow onto our land as well.

an easement was written into the deed upon my mother buying the house in 1997. (see pic here http://martel.aaron.googlepages.com/pic.JPG )

the land will be re surveyed in the spring and the city code enforcement officer will be called and everything will be brought to his/her attention upon inspection.

i know i will not get concrete answers here but, i would just like to know if i am taking the right coarse of action to get my land back and hopefully put up a 10ft fence to block them...

this is from the neighbors deed... "The interest conveyed herein is an appurtenant easement permitting these grantees, their heirs and assigns to use the above described parcel for all purposes for which a driveway is normally used, benefiting the above referenced property of the grantees lying to the east. This easement shall run with the land and be binding on the grantor, her heirs and assigns. The rights conveyed herein also includes the right of the grantees, their heirs and assigns, at their own expense, to pave whatever portion of the area described herein they might wish"

i understand that they can tar the driveway and they have to maintain it, the dispute is are they past the 10ft easement in taring the parcel that they did. there is not more than 6in in some spots up to my foundation and their run off goes right onto my property and into the foundation due to a slope in the driveway.

as you can see by the lines on the picture i posted, it seems to me that the tarred driveway is on 3/4 of my land and is bigger than 10ft.

any help is appreciated, thanks

So, basically, your neighbor has a driveway easement over land owned by your mother.

It isn't clear from what you've written if their use is intended as exclusive, or if your mother's parking on the driveway on her own land would interfere with their use of the driveway to access their own land.

In terms of runoff, Maine's law seems more friendly to your neighbor than to you. Maine applies a "modified common enemy" rule, whereby a landowner will not ordinarily be responsible for water runoff onto a neighboring property where their actions on their own land merely affect the flow of water. See, e.g., Johnson v. Whitten, 384 A.2d 698 (1978).

Quote:

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Absent an artificial collection of water which is discharged, Maine law recognizes no liability as arising, per se, merely from the obstruction, or diversion, of the natural drainage of surface water. As stated in Morrison v. Bucksport & Bangor R. R. Co., 67 Me. 353, 355-356 (1877):

"[I]t is well established that any proprietor of land may control the flow of mere surface water over his own premises, according to his own wants and interests, without obligation to any proprietor either above or below. . . . He may prevent surface water from coming upon his land according to its accustomed flow, whether flowing thereon from a highway or any adjoining land. Bangor v. Lansil, . . . [51 Me. 521 (1863)]. He may prevent its passing from his land in its natural flow. . . . He may erect structures upon his own land as high as he pleases without regard to its effect upon surface water, no matter how much others are disturbed by it."

See also Pettengill v. Turo, 159 Me. 350, 193 A.2d 367 (1963). The rule derives from the fundamental principle that a property owner may use his land as he pleases for all lawful purposes.

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we could care less about parking in that driveway now, since everything has gone down the drain with these people.

the bigger problem is rain run off into our foundation, and the size of the driveway. the driveway is bigger than 10ft and slopes into our foundation.