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Real Property – Adverse Possession – Openness & Hostility – Family’s Subdivided Lots
Where (1) plaintiffs’ house sat mostly on plaintiff Donald Slade’s brother’s half-acre lot (Lot 16) and (2) plaintiffs maintained Lot 16, which fronts a public road, as if it were theirs, plaintiffs’ use of Lot 16 was open and notorious. We affirm the trial court’s declaratory judgment that plaintiffs acquired title to Lot 16 by […]
Real Property – Adverse Possession – No Tacking – Corporate – Ultra Vires – Easement
Even though plaintiffs’ predecessor in title adversely possessed the land between his lot and the Calabash River, since the predecessor’s deed to plaintiffs did not include the land between the lot and the river, plaintiffs may not tack the predecessor’s period of adverse possession onto their own 15 years of adverse possession so as to […]
Real Property – Prescriptive Easements – Hostility – Permissive Use
Mason v. Cline (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-16-0260, 7 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) Appealed from Catawba County Superior Court (Anderson Cromer, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Even if the trial court chose not to credit defendants’ evidence that their predecessors gave plaintiff’s predecessors permission to use defendants’ land for ingress and egress to plaintiff’s landlocked lot, […]
Criminal Practice — False Pretenses – Foreclosure Property – Moving in – False Representation – Adverse Possession
State v. Pendergraft (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0031, 38 pp.) (Sam Ervin IV, J.) (Chris Dillon, J., concurring in part & dissenting in part) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court (Paul Gessner, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Even though the false pretenses indictment does not explicitly charge defendant with having made any particular false representation, the indictment […]
Real Property – Adverse Possession – Jury Instructions – Extent of Claim – Entire Tract
Minor v. Minor Since defendant alleged and consistently testified that she was claiming plaintiffs’ entire 23.72-acre tract, she was not entitled to an instruction that would have allowed the jury to find that she had adversely possessed only the eight cleared acres on the tract.
Civil Practice – New Trial Motion – Summary Judgment – Real Property – Adverse Possession – Co-Tenant Ouster
Young v. Young In a verified complaint and sworn affidavit, plaintiff alleged every element to sustain his claim of adverse possession/constructive ouster of his co-tenant, and defendant failed to offer any evidence to the contrary. N.C. R. Civ. P. 59 does not entitle defendant to a second bite at the apple after he stood silent in response to plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. [...]
Real Property – Adverse Possession – Boundary Line – Shared Use – Clothesline – Well Water Sale – Unfair Trade Practices – Not ‘In Commerce’
Wright v. Oakley Even though the disputed area between the parties’ lots contained a clothesline erected by plaintiffs and a utility pole marked with plaintiffs’ address, plaintiffs did not erect the utility pole, and the parties both used the clothesline.
Squatters use ‘adverse possession’ law to claim homes
Crest Properties had just bought a 3,100-square-foot house at 1614 Meadowlark Landing Drive in the Lawing Pond neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C. The subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Timberstone Homes had planned to renovate, and then sell, the 4-year-old home. With the home-construction industry suffering, Crest has been buying up unsold homes of other builders and fixing them up. The Meadowla[...]
Real Property – Adverse Possession – Reference – Jury Trial Demand – Exclusivity & Hostility
Rushing v. Aldridge Where plaintiffs relied on an erroneous survey and placed a fence on defendants’ property, but defendants continued to use a boat ramp on plaintiffs’ side of the fence, there are jury questions as to whether plaintiffs adversely possessed defendants’ land. Defendants preserved their right to a jury trial after the trial court referred the matter to a referee. [...]
Real Property – Adverse Possession – Color of Title – Deed Delivery Date – Partition Action
White v. Farabee Even though the deeds under which respondents claim color of title were dated more than seven years before petitioner filed this partition action, there was uncontroverted evidence that the deeds were signed less than seven years before petitioner filed this action; therefore, respondents cannot rely on those deeds to prove their adverse possession of the land at issue un[...]
Real Property – Easement – Extinguishment – Adverse Possession – Directed Verdict
Phillips & Jordan Investment Corp. v. Greun Madainn, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-16-0243, 8 pp.) (Cheri Beasley, J.) Appealed from the Graham County Superior Court. (James U. Downs, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: Defendant landowner that alleged it had extinguished the adjoining property owner’s easement and […]
Real Property – Easements – Prescriptive – Adverse Possession – Permissive Use
Garrett v. Murphy. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-16-0005, 13 pp.) (Linda Stephens, J.) Appealed from Cherokee County Superior Court. (James U. Downs, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: Defendant put a gate across his driveway to stop ginseng hunters from using the road across his property to get […]
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