Jacque v. SteenBerg Homes, Inc.

Facts

Steenberg Homes (the defendant) had to deliver a mobile home to a customer. There were two ways to deliver the mobile home: (1) a private road covered in 7 feet of snow with a sharp curve in the middle of it which would require the use of “rollers,” or (2) the much easier path across the Jacques’ (the plaintiffs) land. The defendant asked the plaintiffs repeatedly if they could cross the plaintiffs’ land to deliver the mobile home, but each time the plaintiffs’ said “no.” The plaintiffs were particularly sensitive to others being on their land because they had lost some of their land in an adverse possession case previously. The morning the defendant was set to deliver the mobile home, the defendant again asked the plaintiffs if they could transport the mobile home across their property, but the plaintiffs again refused. After this refusal, the defendant’s assistant manager instructed the defendant’s movers to deliver the home in any way they could and that he didn’t care what the plaintiffs had said. The defendant’s employees chose to deliver the home taking the easiest route, i.e. across the plaintiffs’ land. The defendant also blocked access to the town road, allegedly so that no one could see which route they took; however, the defendant claims this was for safety reasons.