Opinion ID: 2036097
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ejectment

Text: The City asserts that the landowners' claim for ejectment is time-barred by the 15-year statute of limitations set forth in Minn.Stat. § 541.02 (2006), which provides: No action for the recovery of real estate or the possession thereof shall be maintained unless it appears that the plaintiff    was seized or possessed of the premises in question within 15 years before the beginning of the action. Section 541.02 is the adverse possession statute in Minnesota. See Beer v. Minn. Power & Light Co., 400 N.W.2d 732, 736 (Minn. 1987). [5] As such, it cannot operate against Torrens property. See Minn.Stat. § 508.02. As previously discussed, the City acquired no interest by de facto taking or by adverse possession when it built the road. To apply the statute of limitations to Torrens property in the way the City advocates would result in the City being able to accomplish indirectlyacquiring title to the propertywhat we held above it can not do directly. This would be an absurd result and one that the legislature surely did not intend. See Minn.Stat. § 645.17(1) (2006) (stating that courts may presume that the legislature does not intend a result that is absurd). We affirm the court of appeals decision that the respondents' ejectment claim is not barred by the limitations period set forth in Minn.Stat. § 541.02, and remand this claim to the district court for further proceedings. [6]