Posted on 09/21/2014 12:41:04 PM PDT by skeptoid
The Republican candidate for Minnesota House District 6A on the Iron Range faces a civil trial in Itasca County this week after sawing his neighbor’s garage in half. Roger Weber of rural Nashwauk is being sued by Mark Besemann of Iron after Weber used a power saw to bisect the building. Weber then removed half of the garage he insists was built, decades ago, on property that he now owns. Besemann is suing Weber for $20,000 in damage to the garage and $20,000 in punitive damages. Besemann also is seeking a small portion of Weber’s land adjacent to the garage to act as a buffer to any additional actions Weber might take.
State District Court Judge Lois Lang is scheduled to hear the case Monday and Tuesday in Grand Rapids.
(Excerpt) Read more at grandforksherald.com ...
I would vote for him knowing nothing else about his politics.
A legal land plat with a recorded deed and original (or updated) survey by licensed surveying companies is legal FOREVER as surveyed in the original plat.
There are many, many misconceptions about “if I have a fence on a neighbor’s land for more than 5 years....blah, blah, blah I own the fenced land. Statements about buildings built on someone else’s land become yours if the land owner does not complain and on and on and on.
These are merely “fairy tales” and the court will always support the original legal documents as written.
These things are subject to refinement, and the most reliable and accurate survey is usually always the latest one.
And cases of Adverse Possession sre still being considered by the courts of Alaska, at least, including the Alaska Supreme Court.
Mind you language please; there are ladies present.
“These are merely “fairy tales” and the court will always support the original legal documents as written.”
The common law doctrine of “adverse possession” (AP) as codified in states’ statutes is to the contrary.
Here in Indiana, it used to be a 20 year period, now it’s ten, I believe. AT one time the person claiming AP had to show open, notorious, active, continuous, hostile and exclusive use. ALL of them.
The doctrine of `adverse possession’—black letter law, by the way—is probably the main reason neighbors get exercised with one another.
Today, I believe AP requires only four elements. If you have a problem with a neighbor who you are convinced is encroaching on your side of the property line, say with an outbuilding or fence, you should contact your title insurance company. They may have a duty to defend against any title defects like this, if it was not disclosed by a survey at the time you purchased your home/land. Most people today are required by their lenders to buy title insurance policies and a survey.
If you have a survey and live in a subdivision, you may be able to use a tape measure to measure from the side of your house to your side or back lot line.
Do it with your neighbor, giving him a copy of the survey and letting him see the number of feet from your foundation and the number of feet shown on the tape.
IF your neighbor is a hothead, suggest another neighbor act as a witness.
If he still balks, challenge him to agree to have a survey done, with the `loser’—whoever is wrong about the location of the lot line—agreeing to pay the cost (they can be expensive).
Make sure you’re there when the surveyor puts the flags in the ground so you can photograph them. Ask your third-party neighbor to be there as well. The flags have a tendency to `travel’.
Oh yeah, document the agreement with an enforceable agreement, and make sure all important communications are in writing, with critically important things sent by certified mail.
Back to the salient point—there definitely is a time limitation in which a property owner must act if he notices a permanent encroachment or he is deemed to have slept on his rights and the neighbor may acquire your land by adverse possession.
You are right that “record title is the highest form of title,” DH, but at the same time, in so many words, “The law favors the man with the hoe”.
... don’t saw garages in half...
moral to this story
He can do whatever he wants with whatever is on his property.
That’s exactly right: taking the law into your own hands is a bad idea, as shown in:
tumblindice v. Geronl (2014)
Justice Roy Bean Dice:
“The plaintiff testified that he saw an ugly booger hanging from his FRiend’s nose.
This court holds:
You can pick your nose,
and you can pick your friends.
But you cannot pick your FRiend’s nose.
Bailiff, whack his pee-pee!” (Gavel bangs)
Oh yeah, before I forget—for anyone having a real boundary line dispute—that statute I referenced requires that a person claiming land by adverse possession must, as well as showing all the essential elements, also pay taxes and assessments on the land being claimed.
You would think this would be problematic for the claimant, since the title owner ordinarily pays these things, but in my experience the requirement does not allow the title owner to take the claimant out on pre-trial motions and the matters were eventually heard on their merits; that is, the cases went to trial on their facts, the case law and statutes.
It’s best to try and work these matters out early and in an agreeable/amicable manner, if at all possible, since they quickly become heated, expensive and time-consuming.
But if there’s any doubt in your mind as to the period of time that has passed, ***see a good real estate lawyer, and pronto***. If the law is satisfied, the title passes to the claimant by operation of law.
OK, alrighty then. Is that ... what’s that hanging from your nose?
C’mere .....
lol
Thanks for the post
Not bad either!
Now, do we go out on a high note, or milk it?
Ah, heck with it.
“Hi, I’d like to speak with you about your garage on my property.”
“Sod off!”
“Saw it off? Okay, then.”
In my case, title insurance was not worth the paper it was printed on. The title company and surveyor just said “too bad, so sad.”
there definitely is a time limitation in which a property owner must act if he notices a permanent encroachment
The original owner of the land can sell his land by original deed and plat at will and at 100% of the original parcel. The guilty party cannot sell the encroached land because he does not have a clear title.
The only solution in Texas is for the guilty party to actually purchase the encroached land if the the original owner agrees to it...if not, when the land is sold by the title holder, the encroached land is sold too.
The phrase “owner must act if he notices a permanent encroachment “ is a very hard fact to prove. Exactly when does the fact get discovered? As a matter of fact, it is impossible and is pure hearsay.
Runway numbers are repainted immediately as needed, but the needed frequency varies drastically depending on location.
No point on the earth's surface (other than glaciers and unstable slopes, major active faults, etc.) move apprecialy over a 30 year span.
New surveys only LEAD TO CONFUSION !
Try that one on a Judge.
And finally, can you give an example of a piece of private property that spans two "continental plates"?
Dial it back (or maybe sober up?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.