Help! I need legal advice re: easements
- Thread starter mdbarb
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KennethBrown
Silver Member
All right MD, I read this from the start when it was new and followed it all the way here. When are ya gonna tell us it was a joke?
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Maybe someday I will wake up and it was all a dream. )</font>
I'm sure you meant a nightmare. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I've been following this since joining TBN about 6 months ago and all I can say is un-freaking-believable. Ben Franklin and Thomas Jeffeson are rolling over in their graves.
I do concur with L3650 though; </font><font color="blue" class="small">( Where is your title insurance company through all this? )</font> This is what you paid them for.
I'm sure you meant a nightmare. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I've been following this since joining TBN about 6 months ago and all I can say is un-freaking-believable. Ben Franklin and Thomas Jeffeson are rolling over in their graves.
I do concur with L3650 though; </font><font color="blue" class="small">( Where is your title insurance company through all this? )</font> This is what you paid them for.
MikeD74T
Veteran Member
mdbarb, Over the last couple of days I read this entire post. It it truly a sad state of affairs.
I have a brook that cuts off 3 acres of my 38. My house and barn are on the 3 acres which has road frontage. The back land has road access thru a right of way that was deeded separately but purchased at the same time as the land. The right of way was purchased by the previous owner from an adjacent landowner 10 years earlier to accomodate logging of (my) land. I build a bridge to minimize my use of the right of way. Two years after my purchase I got a note from the landowner asking for an urgent meeting. He'd heard a rumor that I would be subdividing and was going to contest my plan. He also expressed concern that the right of way being used (and as described on the deed) was not what he intended to sell. I convinced him that I had no such subdivision plans & he dropped the matter. A year later he had one of my friends arrested for tresspass for using my right of way, which the friend had my permission to do. I took the deed to court as a defense witness & the charges were dropped. Keep in mind that we're talking about a 85 year old landowner that I've known since the late 50's. Ultimately I took the deed to his lawyer that had originally written it, who contacted his surveyor that had laid it out, & the landowner was aprised on my rights. We have remained amicable.
From your second post you indicated that you bought into this situation. Perhaps some research into what you were getting would have aleviated some pain. Also you let the parking problem fester for a while & picked at it as well. From the jury decision it appears that the posted side of this story doesn't tell the whole story. Regardless, it is important to fully understand what you are buying or selling, especially if "sharing" is involved.
The real irony is, nobody actually owns land, you just have tax paying privledges for as long as you can- then someone else does.
I have a brook that cuts off 3 acres of my 38. My house and barn are on the 3 acres which has road frontage. The back land has road access thru a right of way that was deeded separately but purchased at the same time as the land. The right of way was purchased by the previous owner from an adjacent landowner 10 years earlier to accomodate logging of (my) land. I build a bridge to minimize my use of the right of way. Two years after my purchase I got a note from the landowner asking for an urgent meeting. He'd heard a rumor that I would be subdividing and was going to contest my plan. He also expressed concern that the right of way being used (and as described on the deed) was not what he intended to sell. I convinced him that I had no such subdivision plans & he dropped the matter. A year later he had one of my friends arrested for tresspass for using my right of way, which the friend had my permission to do. I took the deed to court as a defense witness & the charges were dropped. Keep in mind that we're talking about a 85 year old landowner that I've known since the late 50's. Ultimately I took the deed to his lawyer that had originally written it, who contacted his surveyor that had laid it out, & the landowner was aprised on my rights. We have remained amicable.
From your second post you indicated that you bought into this situation. Perhaps some research into what you were getting would have aleviated some pain. Also you let the parking problem fester for a while & picked at it as well. From the jury decision it appears that the posted side of this story doesn't tell the whole story. Regardless, it is important to fully understand what you are buying or selling, especially if "sharing" is involved.
The real irony is, nobody actually owns land, you just have tax paying privledges for as long as you can- then someone else does.
chatcher
Silver Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...From the jury decision it appears that the posted side of this story doesn't tell the whole story...)</font>
Of course we only know what we have read here, but it doesn't surprise me when one side lies in court and the jury believes them. It is a nightmare scenario to go to court expecting to find justice, when there are so many things that have to go just right for the outcome to be fair.
I take away three lessons from the story:
(1) Lawyers are expensive, someone has to pay them, and sometimes (about 50% of the time for cases that go to court) money paid to a lawyer does not get the desired result. (I am not putting all lawyers down - they are a necessary part of the system we have, and I wouldn't want to defend myself without a good one.)
(2) Avoid going to court, even if it means a painful settlement, unless you can really afford to take the risk of an uncertain outcome. Standing on principle is an admirable thing as long as you know the risks and know that being "right" does not always mean you will win.
(3) Neighbors can have a tremendous impact on the joy you get out of living on your own piece of land. Some of them are saints and some are a**holes, but maintaining at least a civil relationship with all of them is a worthy goal.
This story, as told here, is very sad and frightening. I'm going to try not to forget it whenever I have neighbor trouble.
Of course we only know what we have read here, but it doesn't surprise me when one side lies in court and the jury believes them. It is a nightmare scenario to go to court expecting to find justice, when there are so many things that have to go just right for the outcome to be fair.
I take away three lessons from the story:
(1) Lawyers are expensive, someone has to pay them, and sometimes (about 50% of the time for cases that go to court) money paid to a lawyer does not get the desired result. (I am not putting all lawyers down - they are a necessary part of the system we have, and I wouldn't want to defend myself without a good one.)
(2) Avoid going to court, even if it means a painful settlement, unless you can really afford to take the risk of an uncertain outcome. Standing on principle is an admirable thing as long as you know the risks and know that being "right" does not always mean you will win.
(3) Neighbors can have a tremendous impact on the joy you get out of living on your own piece of land. Some of them are saints and some are a**holes, but maintaining at least a civil relationship with all of them is a worthy goal.
This story, as told here, is very sad and frightening. I'm going to try not to forget it whenever I have neighbor trouble.
mdbarb,
I'm sorry to hear the final outcome. This whole story just makes me sick. I just can't believe this kind of thing can actually happen in this country. Best of Luck in the future and try to stop in here to chat once in a while.
Thanks,
Kevin
I'm sorry to hear the final outcome. This whole story just makes me sick. I just can't believe this kind of thing can actually happen in this country. Best of Luck in the future and try to stop in here to chat once in a while.
Thanks,
Kevin
Yeah its quite true you have only heard my side of the story and perhaps their side would be just as fervent and by now I expect that they may actually belive their version.
Nothing I can do about this - but in the remote chance that they had come across this online, in addition to keeping my identity private, I only spoke the truth.
I did " buy into " this easement and having experience in surveying felt I knew what I was getting into - Since even the courts disagreed on how to interpret the easement I am not too hard on myself about that aspect.
Regarding his parking on my property and letting it simmer for so long - I definetly screwed up on that I think I have already said that was one of the biggest lessons to be learned here.
I should have put up a fence the day I bought the property. I would probably still be friends with the neighbors and alot wealthier for it!
Nothing I can do about this - but in the remote chance that they had come across this online, in addition to keeping my identity private, I only spoke the truth.
I did " buy into " this easement and having experience in surveying felt I knew what I was getting into - Since even the courts disagreed on how to interpret the easement I am not too hard on myself about that aspect.
Regarding his parking on my property and letting it simmer for so long - I definetly screwed up on that I think I have already said that was one of the biggest lessons to be learned here.
I should have put up a fence the day I bought the property. I would probably still be friends with the neighbors and alot wealthier for it!
Robert_in_NY
Super Member
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mdbarb, has anything new came up to possibly change the jurys ruling or is this final now? Hopefully things are working out for you.
WayneB
Elite Member
Just a bump, I want to read the entire thread................hope you are doing okay.
Wayne
Wayne
