Court finds against singer Jackson Browne in Santa Cruz County land dispute

A civil land dispute between Aptos neighbors was resolved this week, with a judge's ruling largely preventing singer-songwriter Jackson Browne from blocking off access to a shared road.

SANTA CRUZ — A civil land dispute between Aptos neighbors was resolved this week, with a judge’s ruling largely preventing singer-songwriter Jackson Browne from blocking off access to a shared road.

The Southern California-based Browne has owned his Porter Gulch Road property since 1982 and his son Ethan Browne lived on-site for a time, according to court documents.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs Sarah Claus and Christopher Wheeler purchased two lots next door to Browne in 2018 and sought to build a home on the undeveloped property. To do so, particularly while contracting with a construction crew, Claus and Wheeler would need to utilize a paved road crossing their neighbor’s land.

According to Browne’s court filings, the Brownes were unaware of any easement guaranteeing shared use of their private driveway and were seeking to avoid loss of privacy.

“Granting Plaintiffs access to the driveway would cause irreparable harm to the Browne family, whose tranquil property would soon serve as a thoroughfare for the parade of heavy construction vehicles promised by Plaintiffs’ contractor,” Browne’s attorneys wrote in a 2019 filing, shortly after the civil suit was docketed.

During a six-day Santa Cruz County Superior Court trial in November, the plaintiffs and expert witnesses were able to prove to Judge Timothy Volkmann that, as part of their deed to the land, there was an easement allowing their shared use of the paved road — rather than an alternative unpaved timber road elsewhere on the land, as proposed by Browne.

Browne, “his agents and employees, are prohibited from blocking the usage of this easement,” Volkmann wrote in his March 13 ruling.

It is up to Santa Cruz County agencies to determine whether or not the road meets their standards for width, slope and available areas for fire truck turnouts when it comes time for the plaintiffs to begin construction on their home, Volkmann added. While he found that the plaintiffs do not automatically have the right to bring their neighbor’s road up to county code with extensive improvements, his finding does not prohibit Wheeler and Claus from seeking permits to do so.

Hits by Browne, who is also a political activist, include “The Pretender,” “Running on Empty,” “Lawyers in Love,” and “Doctor My Eyes.”