WeConservePA has published a new 11-page report: Conservation Easements in Court: A Review of Easement Violation and Enforcement Litigation in Pennsylvania. The report reviews eleven Pennsylvania cases where the interpretation or enforcement of a conservation easement was at the center of litigation. It reveals that conservation easement holders and the conservation values they uphold prevail when a dispute leads to litigation. Judges respect the text of easement documents and their conservation purposes. In many cases, courts order the violator to pay the easement holder’s attorney fees and costs incurred in enforcing the easement.
Anyone that reads the report sensibly would think long and hard before challenging an easement holder’s interpretation or enforcement of a conservation easement in Pennsylvania.