Case brief summary
To win land through adverse possession, a person must show they used the land openly, continuously, exclusively, and as if they owned it, under a good faith belief of ownership, for the number of years required by state law. Courts can also add together ('tack') the time multiple owners in a row possessed the land if there is a proper legal connection ('privity') between them, usually shown by a deed passing between them.
Facts
A surveying error caused deeds along a shoreline to describe the wrong lots. The Kuntos lived on land for decades believing it was theirs, but a corrected survey showed the Howards legally owned it, leading to a lawsuit.
Procedural history
The trial court ruled for the Howards, rejecting the Kuntos' adverse possession claim because their summer-only use wasn't continuous and couldn't be combined with earlier owners' time. The Kuntos appealed.
Issue
Does only using land in summer prevent it from counting as continuous possession, and can someone combine their possession time with earlier owners' time when deeds mistakenly described the wrong lot?
Holding
The court reversed, ruling that summer-only use counts as continuous possession and that the Kuntos could combine their time with earlier owners, making them the legal owners through adverse possession.
Reasoning
The court reasoned that continuous possession should be judged by how an ordinary owner would use that type of property, and summer homes are normally only used in summer, so that still counts as continuous. On tacking, the court explained that the privity requirement exists to separate genuine, good faith property owners from trespassers or squatters, not to punish people who received an honest but mistaken deed. Because each owner in the chain believed in good faith they owned the land they occupied due to the same surveying error, there was a reasonable connection between them sufficient to allow tacking, just as courts already allow when someone's deed describes more land than they actually occupy.
Opinions
Majority (Pearson, J.): Summer-only use of vacation property can be continuous possession, and successive owners with mistaken deeds can tack their possession together to establish adverse possession.
Concurrences (Armstrong, C.J., and Petrie, J.): Joined the majority opinion without writing separately.