Opinion ID: 1827020
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: exclusivity of possession

Text: The Haeckers' fifth assignment of error alleges that the Court of Appeals erred in failing to recognize that the Haeckers had exercised the rights of ownership over the land to the south of the fence. The evidence shows that the Haeckers used the disputed property as a garbage dump throughout the Thornburgs' claimed period of adverse possession and also that they ran a sewer line from their residence which emptied onto the property during the same period in which the Thornburgs used the property. While the law does not require that adverse possession be evidenced by complete enclosure and 24-hour use of the property for the purposes for which it is adapted, there must be an element of exclusivity under a claim of ownership. Weiss v. Meyer, 208 Neb. 429, 303 N.W.2d 765 (1981). We have held that where the record establishes that both parties have used the property in dispute, there can be no exclusive possession on the part of one party. Cofer v. Kuhlmann, 214 Neb. 341, 333 N.W.2d 905 (1983). The record here fails to show exclusive possession or use by the Thornburgs, and the Court of Appeals was therefore incorrect in finding otherwise.