Opinion ID: 1711020
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Whether Hillary's Predecessors in Interest Used Tracks Within 10 Years of Date Hillary Purchased Property

Text: In its order, the district court found that Hillary's predecessors in interest did not use the track after 1981 or so. The court reasoned: The last use of the tracks, according to Leora Fuller's notes ... was February, 1980 and both Donald Barnett of the Barnett Corporation and Robert Antczak show track usage in 1981. Ms. Fuller and Fil Catania stated that they thought there was track usage in 1983, but no records were produced at trial to support this. According to the records produced at trial, the last use of the tracks took place in April 1981. While it is not necessary that the evidence adduced on the last use of the tracks be in the form of written records, we find the testimony adduced on the use of the tracks after April 1981 to be less than persuasive. Thus, considering and giving weight to the fact that the trial court observed the witnesses and accepted one version of the facts over another, we find that the tracks were last used in 1981. See, Engelhaupt v. Village of Butte, 248 Neb. 827, 539 N.W.2d 430 (1995); Gas `N Shop v. City of Kearney, 248 Neb. 747, 539 N.W.2d 423 (1995). Hillary bought parcel C on December 1, 1992. Thus, we conclude that Hillary's predecessors in interest failed to use the tracks for a period of years in excess of the 10-year prescriptive period. As a result, the presumption arises that Hillary's predecessors in interest abandoned the tracks, and thus, Hillary bears the burden of rebutting the presumption by proving that its predecessors did not intend to abandon the tracks. See, Masid v. First State Bank, supra ; Agnew v. City of Pawnee City, supra .