Dominant Estate's Acquisition of New Access Does Not Automatically Extinguish Existing Recorded Right of Way

A property owner, who had granted a right of way across their land to a neighboring property owner for access to a public road, sued to have that right revoked, arguing that the need for the right of way had ceased because the neighbor had subsequently acquired direct access to another public road through a different route. The court rejected the owner's claim, reasoning that the extinction of a servitude, such as a right of way, requires a definitive and lasting abandonment by the dominant estate's owner or an alteration of the dominant estate that renders the servitude entirely useless, and the mere acquisition of a new access route does not automatically extinguish the original servitude, especially if the servitude was established by title, unless the title itself provided for such a contingency or the original necessity was unequivocally and permanently terminated.