Jimmy D. Kendall, Jr. v. Kersh May, 199 So. 3d 697

Coleman Road in Tallahatchie County was once a public road, later abandoned by the county and became a gated private road crossing defendants’ property.
The Mays used Coleman Road (with permission and a key) to access the southern portion of their land when their primary public route was impassable by flood.
Fewer than ten years before suit the Mays requested the county abandon Coleman Road; after abandonment the gate was installed and the Mays retained a key and permission to use the road.
In 2013 new owners of the land where the gate sits changed the locks and denied the Mays access; the Mays then sued to establish a prescriptive easement over Coleman Road.
The chancellor found the Mays failed to prove a ten-year period of adverse use (denying prescriptive easement) but nevertheless ordered the defendants to provide a key and allow access as an equitable matter.
On appeal the Court of Appeals held the chancellor lacked authority to force the defendants to grant access when the Mays had no prescriptive right, and reversed and rendered judgment for the defendants.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Mays established a prescriptive easement over Coleman Road	Mays claimed long use of the road to access their land; use ripened into a prescriptive easement	Defendants argued use was permissive and road had been private for fewer than ten years, so prescriptive elements not met	Denied — Mays failed to show ten years of actual adverse use; use was permissive
Whether chancellor could order defendants to provide a key and access absent an easement	Mays implicitly asked court to compel access despite no easement (did not cross-appeal denial)	Defendants argued court lacked authority to compel neighborly courtesy or create access where law provides no remedy	Reversed — equity cannot provide relief prohibited by law; court could not order access or keys without prescriptive right

Patterson v. Harris, 125 So. 2d 545 (Miss. 1960) (permissive use of private road does not ripen into prescriptive easement; law encourages neighborly courtesy)
Paw Paw Island Land Co. v. Issaquena & Warren Ctys. Land Co., 51 So. 3d 916 (Miss. 2010) (standard of review: chancellor’s factual findings deferential; legal conclusions de novo)
Mosley v. Triangle Townhouses LLC, 170 So. 3d 1251 (Miss. Ct. App. 2015) (equity cannot provide a remedy that law prohibits)
Joel v. Joel, 43 So. 3d 424 (Miss. 2010) (equity must follow the law; where law provides no remedy equity may not create one)