Legal land grab should be overturned on appeal

Denver Post ^ | 11/20/2007 | Editorial

[Royal Wulff]

Legal land grab should be overturned on appeal By The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 11/20/2007 06:50:45 PM MST

For years, the judge and his attorney wife eyed a vacant lot next door to their Boulder home. They regularly trespassed on it, created paths and even held parties on the land.

You might think this high-powered couple would have gotten in some sort of trouble for this. You would be wrong.

In fact, Richard McLean, a former Boulder mayor and RTD board member, and his wife, Edith Stevens, were rewarded for their actions.

[Royal Wulff]

Local Dem party apparatchik abuses legal principle of adverse possession to steal neighbor's land.

See also Kirlin's webpage

[Brilliant]

I would overturn it. They weren’t acting under a “claim of right.”

They knew they did not own it, and were simply trying to take the land from the rightful owner.

[Balding_Eagle]

Denver news is uncovering that this isn’t the first time this has happened in Boulder. A few years back another judge did the exact same thing, and got the land.

[sionnsar]

Gee. Crooked judges. Who’d a thunk it?

[dfwgator]

"Of course, Landsnatching... Land, Land, Land, see Snatch. Ah, Hailie vs. United Sates. Hailie: 7, United States: nothing. You see, it can be done!"

[TexGuy]

LOL ... Toooooo funny!

[editor-surveyor]

They don’t qualify under the minimum requirements of adverse possession. The key element is that you put the land to a taxable use, and paid the taxes due. They did neither, and thus have no legitimate claim to the fee.

They also fail on any claim of prescription, since several generations of aerial photogrammetry disprove their claim of making paths on the land. This is a criminal conspiracy, pure and simple, and should ultimately result in prosecution.

[dynachrome]

ping

[Royal Wulff]

This story is getting some attention:

Instapundit

Jawa Report

Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Also, pics of the Dem scumbags at Kirlins' webpage.

[george76]

thanks

[TLOne]

As I’ve understood adverse possession is not meant for land snatching but genuine misunderstanding of ownership.

You believe the land is yours, the owner of the land believes it is yours and not his. You act upon that belief with some kind of improvement such as a fence or wall without objection.
It’s yours, now pay the taxes and adjust deeds to reflect such.

[Thermalseeker]

They knew they did not own it, and were simply trying to take the land from the rightful owner.

There's a lot of that going around these days......

[Laserman]

I ran against the Judge for the RTD post he held a few years ago, and I can tell you he is a real sleaze! First thing he did was try and have me thrown off the ballot. In the end I lost by less than 1% of the vote.

This guy struck me as an elitist liberal of the first degree.

[sergeantdave]

I agree.

The fact that the landowners paid taxes on the property and the county accepted the tax payment should be enough to establish ownership.

The judge who okayed this legal hocus-pocus should be impeached and then brought up on criminal charges.

[Laserman]

As for the impeachment, that will be pursued once the rightful owners have had their rights restored!

There was a protest picnic held on the land last weekend that was very successful.

[Brilliant]

It really depends on the state, but I can’t believe that Colorado’s laws are so skewed that they would permit this.

[editor-surveyor]

The laws of all the states are about the same on these issues. They are derrived from the British Common Law.

[Brilliant]

They very similar, but each of them has their own wrinkles. Here in Florida, for example, you’ve got to pay taxes on the land in order to claim by adverse possession.

[editor-surveyor]

Absolutely!

Taxes are the essence of adverse possession; without them there is no issue.

[pray4liberty]

What these people have done is outrageous, unethical and immoral. What’s worse is that the OAR (discipline board) refuses to look into that unethical behavior. Seems their cronyism goes up to the highest levels.

The Kirlins should contact the U.S. Attorney for the State of Colorado and have these ingrates investigated for conspiracy with intent to defraud/steal, conspiracy of rights under color of law, racketeering, and any other criminal charge that can be lobbed at them that will stick. Using a legal means to achieve an illegal end (theft) is still a crime. The intent to steal the Kirlin's land is very clear here.

They should be required to not only give the land back, but pay their own attorney fees, pay restitution and punitive damages to the Kirlins, as well as all the Kirlin's legal fees. Somebody in Colorado needs to grow a spine and throw the damn book at them for this.

Shunning by us commoners isn’t a bad idea either. Anybody who encounters these scumbags in public should practice their dirty looks on them. Business owners should refuse them service. Likewise, I hope the Boulder High Society are just as mad as we are and stop inviting them to their posh parties.

I for one wouldn’t let these people into my house, because the minute my back was turned they’d probably steal all the silver plate I own and someone else’s fur coat out of the closet. McLean and Stevens are beyond despicable. They and their two judge friends should be in jail.