Case Name: Anita Van Gorder et al., Respondents, v. Masterplanned, Incorporated, Formerly Known as Muttontown Holding Corp., Appellant, et al., Defendants
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1991-11-25
Citations: 78 N.Y.2d 1106
Docket Number: 
Parties: Anita Van Gorder et al., Respondents, v Masterplanned, Incorporated, Formerly Known as Muttontown Holding Corp., Appellant, et al., Defendants.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 78
Pages: 1106–1108

Head Matter:
Anita Van Gorder et al., Respondents, v Masterplanned, Incorporated, Formerly Known as Muttontown Holding Corp., Appellant, et al., Defendants.
Argued October 8, 1991;
decided November 25, 1991
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Elliot Paskoff, Avrom E. Greenberg and Francis J. Hearn, Jr., for appellant.
Jerry A. Weiss for respondents.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment denied.
Inasmuch as a triable issue of fact exists as to whether plaintiffs, who claim to have acquired title to defendant's property by adverse possession, acknowledged during the stat utory 10-year period that actual ownership of the property rested with defendant, summary judgment should not have been awarded to plaintiffs. Such a concession, if found by the trier of fact to exist, would negate an essential element of plaintiffs' adverse possession claim, namely, that they continued to possess the property under a claim of right throughout the statutory period (see, City of Tonawanda v Ellicott Cr. Homeowners Assn., 86 AD2d 118, 123; see also, Van Valkenburgh v Lutz, 304 NY 95, 99).
Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Simons, Kaye, Alexander, Titone, Hancock, Jr., and Bellacosa concur in memorandum.
Order reversed, etc.