Sometimes It Just Pays To Be Hostile

On March 6, 2015, the New Jersey Appellate Division, in a yet-to-be published opinion, reiterated the longstanding maxim that when one is claiming an interest in land owned by another based upon use or a claim of right, it is better to be hostile than friendly. In Bloom v. Morales, the plaintiff property owner, premised essentially upon extended periods of use by his deceased mother, who previously owned the plaintiff's property, claimed a prescriptive easement in the adjacent neighbor's driveway used by her and subsequently by him for access to the garage in the rear of his property. The driveway was located entirely upon the adjacent neighbor's property. The plaintiff's mother enjoyed a friendly relationship with her neighbor.