Opinion ID: 1704302
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Nature of Trespass.

Text: The gist of a claim for trespass on land is the wrongful interference with one's possessory rights in property. Ryan v. City of Emmetsburg, 232 Iowa 600, 603, 4 N.W.2d 435, 438 (1942). One is subject to liability to another for trespass, irrespective of whether he thereby causes harm to any legally protected interest of the other, if he intentionally (a) enters land in the possession of the other, or causes a thing or a third person to do so, or (b) remains on the land.... Restatement (Second) of Torts § 158 (1964). For purposes of a trespass claim a person who is in possession of land is defined as one who (a) is in occupancy of land with intent to control it, or (b) has been but no longer is in occupancy of land with intent to control it, if, after he has ceased his occupancy without abandoning the land, no other person has obtained possession as stated in Clause (a), or (c) has the right as against all persons to immediate occupancy of land, if no other person is in possession as stated in Clauses (a) and (b). Id. § 157. Even if Roberts possessed a right to exclusive possession of the leased area as against Steamboat, it still must establish that at the time of the alleged interference it was in either actual or constructive possession of the property. Id.; see also Prosser & Keeton § 13, at 77-78; 75 Am.Jur.2d Trespass § 37, at 35-36 (1991); 87 C.J.S. Trespass § 22(a), at 972-73 (1954). Actual possession or occupancy of land may be shown by [public] acts of ownership or dominion. 75 Am.Jur.2d Trespass § 38, at 36-37; see also 87 C.J.S. Trespass § 22(b), at 973-74; Restatement (Second) of Torts § 157 cmt. a. Here Roberts vacated the leased property in March 1991 when it removed its riverboat and barges. After Roberts had vacated the area, Steamboat began construction on the docking facilities and began operating excursions from Leach Park. We believe that Roberts' payment of rent, without other indicia of physical dominion, is insufficient to establish actual possession. Similarly, we conclude Roberts was not in constructive possession of the property. Constructive possession is that possession which the law presumes the owner has, in the absence of evidence of exclusive possession in another.... If defendant is in actual possession, constructive possession is excluded. 87 C.J.S. Trespass § 22(c), at 974; see also Restatement (Second) of Torts § 157(b), (c); Prosser & Keeton § 13, at 78. There is no presumption of possession on the part of a licensee because a license gives the licensee merely a right to use land in the possession of another. See Resnick, 259 Iowa at 583, 145 N.W.2d at 14. Because Roberts cannot establish that it was in possession of the property on which the acts of trespass allegedly occurred, its claims must fail.