Jonathan Hixon and Lauren Solar recently obtained summary judgment in favor of their client – a residential homeowner – in an adverse possession claim against a neighbor in Bristol County Superior Court.
The case involved a parcel of property adjacent to a lake where the plaintiff owned a small island containing a two-bedroom home. The disputed parcel was used by plaintiff and prior owners of the island for over 50 years in order to park their vehicles and access the island across wooden footbridge.
The case arose when the plaintiff’s neighbors claimed that they owned the disputed parcel because they had been paying taxes on it and occasionally walked on the disputed parcel and picked up trash. The neighbors also claimed that members of the public used the parcel to launch kayaks from and therefore the plaintiff and the prior owners did not have exclusive use of the disputed parcel.
The court’s decision expressly rejected the neighbor’s claims and determined that plaintiff and the prior owners used the parcel for over 50 years as a normal owner of the parcel would and therefore were entitled to be the record owners of the parcel by adverse possession. The court focused on the nature and location of the disputed parcel as well as the evidence from other neighbors spanning decades which described the use of the parcel by previous owners that was presented by Mr. Hixon and Ms. Solar.
Read the Summary Judgment Decision: Allowed Judgment 5-4-18
Mr. Hixon and Ms. Solar’s practices encompasses a wide range of business and real estate-related litigation.
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