Attorneys Gene Libby and Keith Richard won a unanimous plaintiff’s verdict on behalf of a client in a property dispute case.
The land at issue is situated in the Moody Beach area of Wells. The Plaintiff owned a waterfront parcel on Moody Beach. She also owned a vacant parcel next to the Defendant across the street and had plans to build a small retirement home there upon selling the waterfront land.
A claim for trespass was brought by the Plaintiff against the Defendant for encroachments on the vacant parcel that had been allowed by the Plaintiff but the Defendant refused to remove. The Defendant counterclaimed and asserted that he had adversely possessed the Plaintiff’s land.
The Plaintiff’s theory of the case was that the Defendant had only asserted adverse possession in retaliation for the fact that the Plaintiff did not deed him a right-of-way to the beach as part of the sale of the waterfront parcel. The adverse possession claim threatened to shrink the vacant lot to a nonconforming lot size, which would jeopardize plaintiff’s ability to build a home there. Evidence presented at trial showed that the Defendant knew where the boundary line was on the vacant parcel, and he had never asserted a different boundary line or that he had a claim for adverse possession before the right-of-way dispute arose.
The jury verdict was unanimous 9-0 in favor of the Plaintiff on all claims. The jury awarded the Plaintiff the full amount of the damages sought.
