DICK PORTON, AMY PORTON, and NATHAN ATCHISON Missouri Cases

Dick Porton, Amy Porton, and Nathan Atchison (Subdivision Owners) sued Keith and Sarah Box (Boxes) to establish a public road across the Boxes' property, which had been used by the public for nearly 30 years to access the Blue Ridge Estates Subdivision. The trial court found the road to be a public road by common-law dedication and, alternatively, by public prescriptive easement. The Boxes appealed, arguing errors in the common-law dedication finding, the burden-shifting for the prescriptive easement, and the inconsistency of the two theories. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's judgment, finding no merit in the Boxes' argument regarding the prescriptive easement and declining to address the other points.