Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of August 9, 2021.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Couch v. Avila, No. 02-20-00274-CV, August 12, 2021 (Birdwell, J., joined by Sudderth, C.J., and Bassel, J.).

Held: Appellee was entitled to an easement by necessity over his neighbors’ land; his necessity for an easement was not diminished by the fact that, at severance, the original owner of Appellee’s property also owned one of the adjacent lots through which the easement would pass.  However, Appellee was not entitled to an express easement over his neighbors’ lots in light of the unambiguous language in the property deeds stating that no easement was being reserved.