Mahler, P. v. Ballard, N.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 2, 2026
Docket1124 MDA 2025
StatusUnpublished
AuthorNeuman

This text of Mahler, P. v. Ballard, N. (Mahler, P. v. Ballard, N.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mahler, P. v. Ballard, N., (Pa. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

J-A11018-26

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

PAUL R. MAHLER AND SEAN O’SHEA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellants : : : v. : : : NANCY BALLARD, TRUSTEE, AND : No. 1124 MDA 2025 WENDY KILBURN, TRUSTEE OF THE : VEWW TRUST DATE JAN. 3, 2024 :

Appeal from the Order Entered August 5, 2025 In the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County Civil Division at No(s): 2025-06788

BEFORE: BECK, J., NEUMAN, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY NEUMAN, J.: FILED: JUNE 2, 2026

Appellants, Paul R. Mahler and Sean O’Shea, appeal from the trial court’s

August 5, 2025 order denying their request for a preliminary injunction in this

property dispute. We affirm.

On June 11, 2025, Appellants filed a complaint against Appellees, Nancy

Ballard, Trustee, and Wendy Kilburn, Trustee of the VEWW Trust date Jan. 3,

2024, asserting a claim for “easement by prescription & declaratory

judg[]ment.” Complaint, 6/11/25, at 8 (unnecessary capitalization and

emphasis omitted). Therein, in relevant part, Appellants indicated the parties

are all owners of property in the area surrounding Lake Nuangola in Luzerne

County, Pennsylvania. See id. at ¶¶ 1, 2, 4, 7.1 Appellants averred Lake ____________________________________________

1 For ease of discussion, we refer to the property belonging to VEWW Trust as

Appellees’ property. J-A11018-26

Nuangola is a lake community that includes a community path that

circumnavigates most of the lakefront properties (“Lake Path”). Id. at ¶ 13.

According to Appellants, the Lake Path traverses Appellees’ property and

Appellees “in the past couple years have placed barriers and items in the Lake

Path area to make traversing their property difficult….” Id. at ¶¶ 8, 49.

Appellants claimed they have a prescriptive easement to use the Lake Path

over Appellees’ property. Id. at ¶¶ 73-80.

On the same day Appellants filed their complaint, Appellants also filed a

petition for preliminary and permanent injunction, in which they requested

Appellees be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from blocking Appellants

from using the Lake Path “for ingress, egress, and regress” until further order

of court, and from requesting, participating in, or filing criminal trespass

charges against Appellants for using the Lake Path to cross over Appellees’

property. Petition, 6/11/25, at 6-7. Appellees subsequently filed an answer

to the petition, in which they denied closing the alleged Lake Path to

Appellants. Answer, 7/3/25, at ¶¶ 20, 33.

A hearing on Appellants’ petition for preliminary injunction occurred on

July 15, 2025. The hearing transcript reveals the following in pertinent part.

Appellants first called Mr. Mahler to testify. Mr. Mahler stated he initially

visited Lake Nuangola in the summer of 1960, resided there from about 1963

to 1970, moved away but continued to spend the summers there, and moved

back full-time in July 2009. N.T., 7/15/25, at 9-12. Appellants introduced

the following tax map, which Mr. Mahler had reviewed and marked:

-2- J-A11018-26

Appellants’ Exhibit A; see also N.T. at 14.2

____________________________________________

2 The record indicates a colored copy was introduced at the hearing; however,

a colored copy is not contained in the certified or reproduced records. N.T. at 15-16.

-3- J-A11018-26

Mr. Mahler indicated the dark line going around portions of the lake

denotes the roughly mile-and-a-half-long Lake Path. See N.T. at 16, 18. In

the bottom right corner of the map, Mr. Mahler said there is swamp that

extends to around where the dark line denoting the Lake Path begins near

Willow Grove Street. See id. at 15; see also id. at 22 (Mr. Mahler’s

explaining the Lake Path “ends just before the swamp area at Willow Grove”).

On the right side of the map (which is the west side of the lake), Mr. Mahler

marked Appellees’ property with the indication “Ballard[,]” and his property

as “Mahler.” Id. at 15-16. Mr. Mahler testified there are several access points

to the lakefront on the west side of the lake, including at Willow Grove Street,

Rock Island Street, and Lake Street, as well as entry at a grassy easement.

Id. at 18; see also id. at 15-16. At the top of the map is a boardwalk, which

Mr. Mahler said connects the path from the west side to the east side of the

lake. Id. at 16. On the east side, Mr. Mahler explained the Lake Path goes

past an area known as Red Rock and ends in an area that is not shown on the

lower left side of the map. Id.

Mr. Mahler stated the Lake Path has been in existence since before he

came to the lake in 1960, and is roughly three-to-five feet wide on average.

Id. at 13, 19. When asked if the Lake Path is delineated in any way, Mr.

Mahler answered, “There are some signs that say[, ‘P]ath[,’] that are relatively

recent. There’s no actual delineation. It’s kind of a natural thing along the

lakefront. Everybody knows where it is, where it goes. It’s pretty easy to

follow. Some people … have … stone on the ground in some areas.” Id. at

-4- J-A11018-26

17. Mr. Mahler explained he has used the Lake Path “to walk along the lake

and enjoy the lake, to view the lake. It’s been used also to get to people[’s]

homes, people who live on the lake; and for events, a lake walk for instance

that they had for a number of years….” Id. at 20.

Mr. Mahler, who was 85 years old at the time of the hearing, said he

has been using the portion of the Lake Path that crosses over Appellees’

property since 1960. Id. at 46, 57. However, Mr. Mahler stated Appellees

have placed boulders and no trespassing signs on their property blocking the

Lake Path. See id. at 45-47. Mr. Mahler explained he consequently had to

stop using this portion of the Lake Path, indicating he has balance and mobility

issues and cannot climb over the boulders. See id. at 47, 59. He recalled

that Appellees initially obstructed the path about three years ago with different

items like a pool ladder, a bicycle, and chains, which he could get around since

the items were movable and he was more functional at that time. Id. at 58,

59. Mr. Mahler acknowledged Appellees’ property could be bypassed by going

up Rock Island Street, across Main Street, and then down Willow Grove Street

to get back on the Lake Path. Id. at 59-60. Mr. Mahler said it was a hardship,

though, for him to walk Rock Island Street and Willow Grove Street as they

both have about a 30-degree incline. Id. at 60; see also id. (Mr. Mahler’s

explaining, “I get shortness of breath. I have to stop. I can’t continue and I

don’t enjoy the walk anymore. So it is now a physical thing that just keeps

me from going over there.”). When asked how far it is to the end of the Lake

Path from Appellees’ property, Mr. Mahler indicated it was 150 feet. Id. at

-5- J-A11018-26

61. He also indicated there were two more houses on the lakefront past

Appellees’ property going toward Willow Grove Street. See id. at 42, 47.

After Mr. Mahler testified, Ruth Slamon Borland — a part-time resident

of Lake Nuangola — was called. Id. at 71. She stated children use the Lake

Path to get to their friends’ houses. Id.

Appellants then tried to call Greg Koons, who they said used to live on

the west side of Lake Nuangola, and Terry Jones, who they claimed is the

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Mahler, P. v. Ballard, N., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mahler-p-v-ballard-n-pasuperct-2026.