Blackburn v. Wong
Docket Number: | 2003-CA-01955-SCT | |
Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 11-10-2004 Opinion Author: Dickinson, J. Holding: Affirmed |
|
Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Real property - Adverse possession - Claim of ownership Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Waller and Cobb, P.JJ., Easley and Randolph, JJ. Judge(s) Concurring Separately: Carlson, J., - Joined by Waller and Cobb, P.JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz and Graves, JJ. Procedural History: Bench Trial Nature of the Case: CIVIL - REAL PROPERTY |
|
Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 08-27-2003 Appealed from: Bolivar County Chancery Court Judge: William Willard Disposition: Ordered the removal of all improvements and structures on the encroachment and the payment of attorney's fees and costs to Wong. Case Number: 99-0057 |
Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
Appellant: | Doris M. Blackburn and Stephen W. Blackburn |
ANCIL LIDDELL COX, JR.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER COX |
||
Appellee: | Ngan Chu Wong | STEVEN TODD JEFFREYS J. KIRKHAM POVALL |
|
Synopsis provided by: If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
Topic: | Real property - Adverse possession - Claim of ownership |
Summary of the Facts: | Ngan Chu Wong filed a complaint against Doris Blackburn, Esq. seeking to remove a seventeen foot encroachment on her property and reimbursement for all expenses with regard to the complaint, including attorney’s fees, engineering fees and other expenses. Stephen Blackburn, Esq. petitioned and was permitted to intervene. The Blackburns filed an answer in which they prayed that Wong’s complaint would be dismissed and the court quiet and confirm title to them. The chancellor entered a judgment in favor of Wong and ordered the removal of all improvements and structures on the seventeen foot encroachment and the payment of attorney's fees and costs to Wong. The Blackburns appeal. |
Summary of Opinion Analysis: | For possession to be adverse it must be under claim of ownership; actual or hostile; open, notorious, and visible; continuous and uninterrupted for a period of ten years; exclusive; and peaceful. One cannot set out to adversely possess the property of another, but the claim of ownership must exist at the beginning of the ten-year statutory period. In 1971, Blackburn admits that he thought his building had been built on Wong’s property. He then set out in a deliberate attempt to adversely possess the 17-foot strip of lot 5, belonging to Wong. Blackburn knew he did not own the seventeen-foot strip of lot 5. That being the case, he had no claim of ownership at the beginning of the statutory period and, thus, could not gain title to the property through adverse possession. |
Home | Terms of Use | About the JDP | Feedback | Using JDP | MC Law Library | Mississippi Supreme Court