Boulder Judges Making Habit of Grabbing Their Neighbors' Land?

My Fox Colorado ^ | November 21, 2007 | CHARLIE BRENNAN

[Sue Bob]

BOULDER -- The "adverse possession" case through which retired Boulder judge Richard McLean was able to grab a swath of land on a neighbor's vacant lot triggering cries of protest by people who don't know any parties involved is not the first time a former Boulder judge has used the law against a neighbor.

Former Boulder County Judge Marsha Yeager, whose tenure on the Boulder County bench overlapped that of McLean, filed a successful "adverse possession" case against her neighbor in 2002.

--snip--

In Yeager's case, she filed suit against the family of Cosima Krueger-Cunningham, to settle ownership of a one-foot high, one-foot wide stone wall dividing their two Boulder residences.

Yeager, her spouse is a lawyer, just as is the case with McLean, lives at 963 7th Street, while Krueger-Cunningham live at 977 7th Street.

"My family has lived here since 1950, so that's what, 57 years," said Krueger-Cunningham, who grew up at 977 7th St.

"We have a long history with that wall. I have many childhood memories with that wall, of playing on the wall with my friends. My parents always assumed it was their wall. "It's been a nightmare."

When she heard that Yeager was using something called "adverse possession" to claim ownership of t he wall and thereby move the property line dividing their properties roughly one foot in Krueger-Cunningham's direction, she said, "I didn't really understand what it was all about."

--snip--

It was intimidating, said Krueger-Cunningham, to be sued by a former judge - one who is married to a lawyer, no less.

"I feel that she was at a distinct advantage, in that she had been on the bench for I don't know how many years. She obviously, you know, was well known to people in the judicial system."

[larry hagedon]

I saw that happen in a rural Iowa community a few years ago. A well known and liked doctor bought an old farm. He spent a lot of his off time there fixing and repairing and planned to build a house on it someday.

He had a neighbor that had an old trailer and some junk on a tiny piece of ground next to him and one day the neighbor fenced off a small plot of the doctor’s land and put a couple of goats on it.

The good doctor took pity on the family and let is slide and a few years later the neighbor claimed the land in court and got it. The doctor told me that if he had charged a dollar a year rent he would have legally retained ownership.

This stone fence grab however looks to me like it was bogus. Both neighbors should have had pretty much equal use of a rock fence.

I saw the issue decided the other way once, when a wire line fence was known to be only approximately on the property line. The neighbor claimed the fence and a hundred or so feet beyond. They surveyed and went to court and the survey ruled. The fence was as much as 50 feet off the surveyed property line in places.

In that case the neighbor land grabber lost and they built the new fence as much as 50 feet back into his corn field.

Taking a one foot wide land grab to court is pathetic.

[BallyBill]

I got this nice stretch of river I been fishing for years, I’m thinking of grabbing it up.

[Sue Bob]

“Taking a one foot wide land grab to court is pathetic.”

Yeah, but I guess that if you are a District Judge and you know that a fellow judge is going to be deciding your case, you may think it’s just a piece of cake!

[Paleo Conservative]

Can’t the judge be impeached?

I'm sure he can. He should also be disbarred.

[colorado tanker]

Actually, this case shows why adverse possession is a good law, if properly applied. If neighbors have acknowledged a stone fence as their boundary for 50+ years, then the law should recognized that boundary. Think how you would feel if you bought that house assuming the fence to be the boundary, only to have a nasty neighbor have a survey done, tear down your fence, and then sue you for you to pay for the "trespass" cost of tearing it down.

The problem with the other case, from what I can tell, is that adverse possession should never have been found in the first place.

[Sue Bob]

I found an article earlier today about the stone fence. According to the property owner, the judge had erected a steel fence between her property and the wall prior to bringing the action, so I don’t think that it was a good application of the law, assuming that happened. That would be an admission that the judge knew that the stone wall was not hers.

http://www.denverpost.com/keefe/ci_7557747

[colorado tanker]

What I find extremely disturbing from these stories is that it appears judges are giving fellow judges land they aren't entitled to by misapplying this law. It reeks of corruption.

The problem here isn't the law, but the judges applying it.

[pray4liberty]

County Judge... Like most Texas small county judges, his ruling is the final word. All practicing attorneys in HIS county have to abide and tow the line. It’s near impossible to break with his version of justice.

Well, he will die someday, and then he'll face a real judge who by the looks of things, won't go so easy on him.