Opinion ID: 1213853
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The ten-year statute of limitations

Text: The initial summary judgment order implied that the Borough had to establish each of the elements for adverse possession to time-bar Lakeview's claims. [7] The trial court later ruled that AS 09.10.030 barred all inverse condemnation claims for damages arising prior to 1979. [8] Alaska Statute 09.10.030 is the ten-year statute of limitations for real property disputes. [9] Lakeview argues that the ten-year limitations statute does not bar its inverse condemnation claims for injury occurring more than ten years before the suit was filed unless all the requirements for establishing adverse possession are satisfied. Lakeview relies on the following passage to support its contention that the Borough was obliged to prove the elements of adverse possession to time-bar Lakeview's claims. When there is no special statute of limitations applicable to condemnation proceedings the condemnor cannot rely on a general statute of limitations. Eminent domain proceedings are not sufficiently analogous to suits at law or equity to fall under provisions intended to apply to ordinary private controversies. But it is held that after the expiration of the period necessary to acquire by adverse possession, the owner who has tolerated such occupancy without applying for payment has lost his rights. 1A Nichols on Eminent Domain § 4.102[5] at 4-78-80 (3d ed. 1990) (emphasis added, footnotes omitted). On its face, this statement does not help Lakeview because it indicates that only the prescriptive period need expire before a condemnation proceeding is barred. We also note that Lakeview's argument is contrary to the position it took when it opposed the Borough's effort to assert a third-party claim against the City. Lakeview then argued that it had not sued the City because the statute of limitations would have barred any claim against the City, which had last operated the landfill in 1973. In City of Kenai v. Burnett, 860 P.2d 1233, 1240 (Alaska 1993), we rejected the City's assertion the Burnetts' 1988 inverse condemnation claim for a 1985 taking was time-barred. We approvingly cited City of Anchorage v. Nesbett, 530 P.2d 1324, 1336 (Alaska 1975), for the proposition that inverse condemnation claims are subject to the limitations periods for adverse possession or ejectment, whichever applies. 860 P.2d at 1240 n. 13. We stated: In City of Anchorage v. Nesbett, 530 P.2d 1324, 1336 (Alaska 1975), we rejected an argument that inverse condemnation actions may be time barred either through laches or a limitations period shorter than the statutory period provided for adverse possession. We reaffirm our holding in Nesbett that such actions are subject to the limitations periods established for adverse possession or ejectment, whichever applies. Under AS 09.10.030, the limitations period for ejectment is ten years. Under AS 09.25.050, a seven year period applies when the adverse possessor acquires possession under color and claim of title. Burnett, 860 P.2d at 1240 n. 13 (emphasis added). [10] According to Lakeview, Nesbett supports the proposition that an inverse condemnation claim can only be barred if the government proves that it adversely possessed the complainant's property. In Nesbett the owner sued to compel the City to remove a power line from his property and to pay reasonable rental value for the use of the property. Alternatively, the owner sought damages because the power lines impaired the economic use of the land. 530 P.2d at 1327. The City claimed it had a prescriptive easement for the power lines across the owner's property. Id. at 1327-28. We upheld the trial court's determination that the City's use of the property was permissive rather than adverse. Id. at 1330-32. We did not rule that proof of all elements for adverse possession is necessary to time-bar an inverse condemnation suit. Expiration of the statute of limitations is a distinct defense, and can be asserted separately from the defense that the defendant has adversely possessed the plaintiff's property. We hold that Lakeview was obliged to file its inverse condemnation claim within the ten-year period prescribed by AS 09.10.030. Therefore, the trial court did not err in limiting recovery on that claim to any new or additional injury occurring within the ten years before Lakeview filed its complaint.