Posted by
Ed Lilly on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 12:38:34 PM
Well, probably not. Adverse possession is an old common law doctrine whereby someone can obtain title to property that they do not actually own. Essentially, you have to act as if you own the property for a sufficiently long period of time (usually 20 years) without the real property owner taking steps to stop you. This is one of those things you learn in property law during law school and then find out in practice that it's darn near impossible to succeed on this type of claim in today's world. So it would kind of be interesting and newsworthy in the legal world to see a case involving a valid adverse possession action.
However, in
this story out of Boulder, Colorado, linked by
Instapundit.com, it looks to me more like a typical case of political corruption carrying the day, using adverse possession as a hook for extorting the rightful property owners. Sounds like the idiot judge/mayor/trespasser in Boulder could use being on the receiving end of some old-time frontier justice. Here's a taste of the story - sorry if it ruins anyone's appetite heading into Thanksgiving:
The story is so absurd, so unfair, so ludicrous, I had a difficult time believing that it could actually happen - even in Boulder.
I
t's about a couple named Don and Susie Kirlin. They moved to the city in 1980. A few years later, the Kirlins purchased a plot of land near their residence, hoping to someday build a "dream home."
"We took advantage of the market in the early '80s," says Susie Kirlin, almost apologetic for making a smart investment.
Children interfered slightly with the master plan - three of them in the next few years - postponing any development of the property.
As the children began to make their own way in life, the couple decided it was time to finally develop the property in late 2006.
By then, it was too late.
Despite owning the land, despite living only 200 yards from the property, despite hiking past it every week with their three dogs, despite spraying for weeds and fixing fences, despite paying homeowner association dues and property taxes each year, someone else had taken a shine to it. Someone powerful.