Opinion ID: 1827020
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: beginning of thornburgs' claim of title

Text: The Haeckers first contend that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the Thornburgs' claim of title began in 1965. The record shows, however, that Dean Thornburg began pasturing cattle on the disputed property in 1965, when he and his wife were tenants on the southern tract. We have held that pasturing cattle on a disputed tract supplies the possession necessary to sustain a claim of adverse possession. State Nat. Bank & Trust Co. v. Jacobsen, supra . Although the Thornburgs' possession from 1965 to 1973 was had when they were tenants of the Evanses, the statutory clock was nevertheless set in motion in 1965. A tenant may adversely possess real property in the name of his landlord. See Bryan v. Reifschneider, 181 Neb. 787, 150 N.W.2d 900 (1967). The Thornburgs became the owners of the southern tract in 1973. Therefore, to sustain their claim of ownership by adverse possession from 1965 to 1975, it is necessary for the Thornburgs to tack on the adverse possession of the land by their predecessors in title, the Evanses. In order to tack the possession of predecessors in title, each predecessor occupant must show derivative title from his predecessor in order to link his possession with that taken under a previous entry. Bryan v. Reifschneider, supra . In the case before us, the Thornburgs cannot claim that privity exists with their grantors as to land beyond that described in the deed because of the deed alone. [T]o permit tacking of successive adverse possession of grantees of an area not within the calls of a deed or contract, but contiguous thereto, among the ultimate facts to be established is the intended and actual transfer and delivery of such area to the grantees as successors in ownership, possession, and claim. Rentschler v. Walnofer, 203 Neb. 84, 93, 277 N.W.2d 548, 554 (1979). Privity means privity of possession. It is the transfer of possession, not title, which is the essential element. Bryan v. Reifschneider, 181 Neb. at 792, 150 N.W.2d at 904. Here, it is clear that possession of the land up to the fence was maintained for the same purposes and by the same persons for at least a 10-year period, even though legal title changed hands in 1973. The necessary privity between the successive possessive interests therefore existed, and the Thornburgs met the 10-year statutory requirement of possession in 1975. The Haeckers also argue that the Thornburgs could not have possessed the property during this period because the evidence does not show where the fence was at this time. We disagree. The evidence shows that the fence line was well established from 1965 through at least 1975. After that time, sections were moved, replaced, or simply deteriorated to the point that it could no longer be considered a fence. However, this would have occurred after the statutory period and is therefore of no moment to this issue. Accordingly, we find the Haeckers' first assignment of error to be without merit.