Property — adverse possession

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Civil

Property — adverse possession

Ralph C. and Mary Blum (the Blums) appeal a judgment entered following a trial to the court based on findings that: (1) Veryl and Norma Orcutt (the Orcutts) own by adverse possession a seven-acre strip of land contiguous to and overlapping property owned by both parties; and (2) the Blums did not reacquire possession of the seven-acre strip by adverse possession because they did not enter into the deed taken from Blum’s father based on a “good faith claim of title.” See Wis. Stat. § 893.26(2)(a) (2009-10). The Blums contend that the court’s construction of the phrase “good faith claim of title” within the meaning of the statute is contrary to the legislature’s clear intent in adding this language to the statute in 1979, as reflected by the 1979 Judicial Council Committee’s Note to the amendment. They also argue that, under their construction of the phrase, and applying that construction to the facts of record, they entered into possession of the seven-acre strip of land under a “good faith claim of title.”

We conclude that, assuming without deciding that the Blums’ construction of the phrase “good faith claim of title,” as explained in the 1979 Judicial Council Committee’s Note, is the proper construction of the phrase, the court properly applied this construction to its findings of fact to conclude that the Blums did not enter into the deed under a “good faith claim of title.” We therefore affirm the judgment granting title in fee simple of the disputed seven-acre strip of land to the Orcutts. Not Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2010AP1184 Orcutt v. Blum

Dist IV, Grant County, Van de hey, J., Higginbotham, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Callan, Laura E., Madison; Amundsen, Jennifer L., Madison; For Respondent: Helmke, David M., Lancaster