Montieth v. Twin Falls United Methodist Church

In Montieth v. Twin Falls United Methodist Church (1980), 68 Ohio App.2d 219, 224, 428 N.E.2d 870, the Montieths claimed ownership by adverse possession to a strip of land abutting their eastern property line. The Montieth's acquired their property in 1946. At the time of purchase, the seller represented to the Montieths that the strip of land was part of the property. However, the strip of land was actually part of the Twin Falls Methodist Church property, (hereinafter referred to as "the Church"), which the Church acquired in 1968. In 1969, the Church had its property surveyed for the purpose of grading the property. In the first half of 1970, a trustee of the Church informed the Montieths that the strip of land did not belong to them. Subsequently, the Church graded part of the strip of land. Thereafter, the Montieths initiated an action to quiet title to the disputed property, claiming ownership by adverse possession. The trial court found that the Montieth's had satisfied the requirements for adverse possession and that the Church's 1969 survey had not sufficiently interrupted the running of the statute of limitations for adverse possession. On appeal, the Ninth District reversed. In doing so, the Ninth District first found that the statutory period did not begin running until 1950, when the Montieths built a pigpen on part of the disputed land and, subsequently, maintained a garden in the same spot. With regard to the Church's survey, the Ninth District found: The statute was tolled at the time when the survey was conducted for the purpose of grading the property. We add that the Montieth's were informed in 1970 by an agent of the Church that the property in question in fact belonged to the Church. These acts, we believe, are a sufficient demonstration of an intent by the owners of title to recover possession. See Rosencrantz v. Shields, Inc. (1975), 28 Md.App. 379, 346 A.2d 237. This entry upon the disputed land by the Church, evokes a positive interruption of the statutory period and an unequivocal manifestation of intent to reclaim the property. See Annotation 76 A.L.R.3d 1202, at 1207-1209. 68 Ohio App.2d at 225.