Opinion ID: 1134602
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Adverse User

Text: The City's final contention is that the 1952 order by the Lane County Court conferred color of title to the disputed property upon the County and that the County, and now the City, have thus acquired title by constructive adverse possession. We have recognized that a possessor having color of title to a parcel of land may acquire title by adverse possession of the land described in the deed through the actual possession of only a part. See e.g., Arrien v. Levanger, 263 Or. 363, 370, 502 P.2d 573 (1972). This doctrine of constructive adverse possession, however, is applicable only when the land described in the deed is recognized in the community as a single, defined lot. See III American Law of Property 820 (Casner ed. 1974). The doctrine has no application when the premises consist of several known lots or tracts even though they are described in the same deed. In such a case, each parcel is distinct, and an entry upon one parcel under color of title is not constructive occupancy of all. Real Estate Co. v. Hendrix, 28 Or. 485, 42 P. 514 (1895); Hicklin v. McClear, 18 Or. 126, 22 P. 1057 (1889); Wilson and Wakeman v. McEwan, 7 Or. 87 (1879). We find these cases dispositive of the City's claim that it acquired title to the strip of land on plaintiff's property by constructive adverse possession. Even if we assume that the 1952 action by the Lane County Court conferred color of title upon the county to a 50-foot wide right-of-way extending the length of Barger Drive, there is nothing in the stipulated facts to indicate that the County, or the City, actually possessed any part of plaintiff's property until 1975, when the City began construction of the Barger Drive improvements. Plaintiff's property is a distinct parcel of land, and the County's extension of the Barger Drive fences onto the property of others did not enable it to constructively possess the property of plaintiff. The City also contends that it is entitled to the disputed strip of land under this court's holding in Huggett v. Moran, 201 Or. 105, 112, 266 P.2d 692, 695, 696 (1954) where we said: Whenever a statute prescribes the minimum width of public roads to be established in the future and a public road is established by prescription, the width thereof is the minimum necessary to the establishment of a legal road in the absence of evidence of the taking of a greater amount. (Emphasis ours.) We agree with the Court of Appeals that the City's reliance on Huggett is misplaced. Unlike Huggett, this case does not involve a road established by prescription, and the reasoning we used in Huggett is therefore inapplicable. The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.