Court Opinion

ID: 9720620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:37:45.423008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:20.043917
License: Public Domain

Murphy, Justice
(dissenting).
In this case, the trial court found, among other things:
“Late in 1967 or early 1968 the Defendant began to use Plaintiff’s property as a dumping ground, storing on same such refuse as old drums, junked automobiles, water tanks, and scrap iron. These refuse items were scattered over the various lots owned by the Plaintiff and this refuse continued to exist on the property ever since that time to the date of trial, February 19, 1970.
“Although Defendant contends that he entered into a five-year oral lease in 1967 which gave him the right to use Plaintiff’s property, and whereby he was to improve Plaintiff’s lots by leveling, grading and filling, the evidence clearly does not support this contention.
“When Plaintiff learned for the first time in the Spring of 1969 that Defendant was using his property as an adjunct to his junk yard, Plaintiff attempted to have Defendant discontinue this use and remove the refuse from his property and thereafter made another effort through employed counsel to have the Defendant discontinue the use of the land and remove the refuse from the property.
“The use of Plaintiff’s land was unlawful, without claim of right, and constituted a trespass which, by its nature, is a continuing one.”
It seems to me that the trial court’s determination not only fairly applies Minn. St. 561.04 but also is entirely consistent with the policy of the law which protects property rights and imposes *346penalties on those who trespass upon, or damage, property which does not belong to them.
I would affirm.