Opinion ID: 2299179
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ownership of the Triangle

Text: [¶ 12] The Trust also contends that the court erred by simultaneously adjudicating the Trust's claim of adverse possession of the triangle of undeveloped land abutting Steele Road and the Dubes' and Whitneys' claim of record title to the same parcel. The Dubes and Whitneys argue that there is insufficient evidence to support the Trust's adverse possession of the triangle. [¶ 13] The court's simultaneous adjudication of the parties' competing claims to ownership of the triangle was not in error. A party's unproven allegation of adverse possession does not bar a court from simultaneously considering the opposing party's unproven allegation of title ownership. See Richards Realty Co. v. Inhabitants of Town of Castle Hill, 406 A.2d 412, 413 (Me.1979) (addressing an adverse possession claim pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 815 (2011)). If it were otherwise, and the party asserting adverse possession failed in its proof, the court would be unable to adjudicate the opposing party's claim for declaratory relief. Here, the court did not err in simultaneously adjudicating the Trust's claim of adverse possession and the Dubes' and Whitneys' claim of title to the disputed property. [¶ 14] With respect to the court's resolution of those claims, there was competent evidence in the recordin the form of witness testimony and written deedsto support the court's finding that the Dubes and Whitneys were holders of a deed in a valid chain of title to the triangle. See Rega v. L.S.R., 2010 ME 96, ¶ 3, 5 A.3d 666 (The trial court is free to determine the weight and credibility to be accorded to testimony and other evidence.). The same is true regarding the Trust's claim of adverse possession. The court found that the Trust and its predecessors in title have treated the triangle as part of an undivided parcel spanning Steele Road since at least 1963, a period of over forty years. They have paid taxes on the triangle; posted no trespassing signs; used it for cutting wood, training show cattle, and collecting sap; and have given permission for others to cut wood, trim brush, and collect sap there. [¶ 15] The record thus contained sufficient evidence for the court to find that the use of the triangle by the Trust and its predecessors in title established ownership by adverse possession of that parcel as against the chain of record title ending with the Dubes and Whitneys. See Weeks v. Krysa, 2008 ME 120, ¶¶ 11-13, 955 A.2d 234; Stowell v. Swift, 576 A.2d 204, 205-06 (Me.1990); Mercier v. Allen, 445 A.2d 1011, 1013 (Me.1982). The court's ultimate conclusion that the Trust is the triangle's current owner by adverse possession is not in error. [2]