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The dispute centred on two adjoining parcels that once belonged to the same family: a roughly 37-acre property bought in the 1950s and a smaller, three-fourths-acre tract acquired about 20 years later. On October 23, 2026, the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a jury’s decision that Charlie E. As reported by American legal website Law Justia, the court found that evidence supported the jury’s conclusion that the Stearnses did not have a legal right to use the route.
A property dispute in Kentucky has ended with a state appeals court ruling against a couple who claimed they had the right to use a neighbour’s pathway to reach their land. For years, the family used a pathway across the smaller parcel to reach parts of the larger property. But after the two tracts were sold separately, the new owners disagreed over whether that access could continue. Stearns and Kathy Stearns had no legal easement allowing them to cross the adjoining property owned by John Warinner and Betty Warinner. After his parents died, the two parcels were sold separately by a court-appointed Master Commissioner on the same day. The Stearnses purchased the larger tract, which adjoined land they already owned. The Warinners bought the smaller parcel. The Stearnses believed they were entitled to continue using the pathway across the smaller property. The Warinners disagreed and eventually put up barriers to prevent access.
Because Warinner and the surveyor testified that other access was available, the court found there was enough evidence to support the jury’s rejection of the claim.
The disagreement led to a lawsuit in 2022. The case went to a jury trial in February 2025.
The appeals court said the evidence gave the jury a factual question to decide: whether crossing the smaller tract was reasonably necessary for access to the larger one. The Warinners accused the Stearnses of wrongly claiming an easement across their land and also brought a trespass claim against them. Warinner also identified an older road that could be used after repairs, although he acknowledged that it needed work before it would be usable.
