L. Drennan Parks v. James Steven Hendersona and Marilee Henderson, as Co-Trustees of the Henderson Revocable Trust

2026 Ark. App. 45
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided January 21, 2026·Published

Opinion

Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 45 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION III

No. CV-24-443

L. DRENNAN PARKS Opinion Delivered January 21, 2026 APPELLANT

APPEAL FROM THE WASHINGTON V. COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 72CV-21-2610]

JAMES STEVEN HENDERSON AND MARILEE HENDERSON, AS CO- HONORABLE JOHN C. THREET, TRUSTEES OF THE HENDERSON JUDGE REVOCABLE TRUST APPELLEES AFFIRMED IN PART;

REVERSED AND REMANDED

IN PART

KENNETH S. HIXSON, Judge

This appeal arises from a property dispute between appellant Lloyd Drennan Parks and appellees James Steven Henderson and Marilee Henderson, as co-trustees of the Henderson Revocable Trust. The parties own adjacent property in Washington County, and Parks unsuccessfully sued the Hendersons on his claim for establishing the width of an easement over the Hendersons’ property and his quiet-title claim for ownership of a portion of the Hendersons’ property based on boundary by acquiescence and adverse possession. The trial court entered partial summary judgment in favor of the Hendersons on Parks’ easement claim based on the trial court’s finding that the claim was barred by res judicata. At the subsequent bench trial on the quiet-title cause of action, following Parks’ case-in-chief, the trial court granted the Hendersons’ motions to dismiss Parks’ remaining claims of boundary by acquiescence and adverse possession.

Parks now appeals from the partial summary-judgment order and the order dismissing his remaining claims. On appeal, Parks argues that the trial court erroneously concluded that his easement claim was barred by res judicata. Parks also argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his claims for boundary by acquiescence and adverse possession because he presented a prima facie case at trial on both of those claims. Because we agree that Parks’ claim for establishing the width of the easement was barred by res judicata, we affirm the partial summary-judgment order. However, we agree with Parks’ remaining arguments, and we reverse the dismissal of his boundary-by-acquiescence and adverse-possession claims and remand for further proceedings on those claims.

I. Facts and Procedural History In 1983, Parks purchased an L-shaped tract of property (similar to the shape of Louisiana) from Bill Carpenter. At the time of the conveyance, Carpenter also owned the property to the north and east of the right angle of the L-shaped property. In 1995, Carpenter’s son (to whom Carpenter had conveyed the property north and east of Parks’ property) conveyed that property to the Hendersons.1 When Parks purchased his property from Bill Carpenter in 1983, he received an easement over what later became the Henderson property. The 1983 warranty deed from Carpenter to Parks conveyed “a right-of-way grant and easement over and across the existing roadway” followed by a description of the easement’s location. This easement begins on the

1 In 2019, the Hendersons conveyed their property to James Steven Henderson and Marilee Henderson, as co-trustees of the Henderson Revocable Trust.

north/south boundary line of the parties’ property and generally runs in a northerly direction over the Henderson property to access a county road.

In 1998, a dispute arose between Parks and Henderson concerning Parks’ use of this easement. In December 1998, Parks filed a complaint for injunctive relief against Steve Henderson alleging that Henderson had interfered with his use of the easement by closing and locking the gate where the county road meets the easement and also by feeding cattle, thereby causing the cattle to congregate on the easement right-of-way. In his complaint, Parks asked for injunctive relief prohibiting Henderson from unreasonably interfering with Parks’ use of the easement. In January 1999, Henderson filed a counterclaim against Parks alleging that the inclusion of the language in the 1983 warranty deed from Carpenter to Parks that conveyed the easement was obtained through fraud or mistake without Carpenter’s knowledge or consent, and therefore, the easement should be set aside. This prior dispute over the easement resulted in the parties agreeing to a consent judgment entered in April 1999. The consent judgment ordered Steve Henderson to not unreasonably close or lock the gate to the easement; ordered Henderson to not feed cattle near the easement; and provided that Parks may improve the road on the easement and right-of-way as he sees fit, including putting down gravel or other surfacing materials. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the consent judgment did not otherwise define the easement, particularly the width.

The portion of the Hendersons’ property that Parks now claims through boundary by acquiescence and adverse possession (hereinafter referred to as “the disputed property”) is generally the strip of land between the surveyed north/south boundary line of the parties’

property and an old meandering fence that lies to the north of that boundary and extends about 1700 feet eastward from the parties east/west boundary to the county road. The distance between the surveyed north/south boundary line and the fence varies as the fence meanders eastward and, at its maximum, measures about fifty feet in width. It is undisputed that this fence was in existence before Parks purchased his property in 1983 from Bill Carpenter and that part of the fence was removed by the Hendersons in 2016.

On November 19, 2021, Parks initiated this litigation when he filed a petition to quiet title to the disputed property and to establish the scope of the easement. In this petition, Parks alleged ownership of the disputed property between the parties’ north/south boundary line and the old fence to the north based on his claim that the fence line was a boundary by acquiescence.2 Parks alleged that when he bought his property from Bill Carpenter in 1983, both he and Carpenter understood the fence to be the boundary line between the two properties. Further, Parks alleged that after the Hendersons bought their property in 1995, Parks and the Hendersons had the understanding and agreement that the fence constituted the boundary line. Parks alleged that since purchasing his property in 1983, he has maintained, asserted ownership over, and otherwise acted in all respects as owner of the disputed property up to the boundary line established by the fence. Parks alleged further that Carpenter, and later the Hendersons, had acted as respective owners of the property north of the fence and that the parties had acquiesced in the fence being the

2 Parks later filed an amended petition claiming this strip of property by adverse possession.

boundary line. Parks stated that in 2000, the Hendersons had a survey done showing that the fence was not the “true” boundary line, but the Hendersons nevertheless did not attempt to claim any interest in the disputed property for over a decade after the survey was completed. Parks stated that it was not until 2016 that the Hendersons unilaterally decided to tear down a portion of the fence, apparently based on the 2000 survey. In his petition, Parks also alleged that the Hendersons had been hindering his use of his easement by attempting to limit his use to the two dirt paths created by vehicles driven over the easement. Parks claimed his easement is required to be thirty feet wide and requested a declaration from the trial court to this effect.

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L. Drennan Parks v. James Steven Hendersona and Marilee Henderson, as Co-Trustees of the Henderson Revocable Trust, 2026 Ark. App. 45 (Ark. Ct. App. 2026).

2026 Ark. App. 45 (L. Drennan Parks v. James Steven Hendersona and Marilee Henderson, as Co-Trustees of the Henderson Revocable Trust) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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