Woman sues power company over plans to use abandoned power lines

RIPLEY -- A Kanawha County woman is suing over claims a power company intends to clear an easement it previously abandoned.

Nancy J. Tolliver filed a lawsuit Aug. 25 in Jackson Circuit Court against Appalachian Power Company.

According to the complaint, Tolliver received notification from the defendant on Aug. 20 that it intended to enter upon her property in Jackson County, upon which it has an easement for constructing power lines, and clear land for the renewed use of power lines that have fallen into disrepair. Tolliver says the defendant has not maintained the power lines since the beginning of her ownership of the property in 1970, and she and her husband planted trees and built a large structure in the easement.

The complaint states the easement is extinguished by adverse prescriptive action, as Tolliver's structure and trees have existed in the easement for more than 10 years, or by abandonment, as Tolliver claims the defendant has failed to maintain the easement.

Tolliver is seeking judgment that the easement is extinguished and a preliminary injunction enjoining the defendant from undertaking action on the plaintiff's land.

She is being represented in the case by attorney Derrick Ward Lefler of Gibson, Lefler & Associates in Princeton.

Jackson Circuit Court case number: 14-C-85