Chaplin v. Sanders
Supreme Court of Washington
676 P.2d 431 (1984)
In 1958, the Hibbards, uncertain of their true property boundary, built a road and treated a drainage ditch as the line dividing their land from what became the Chaplins' (plaintiffs) neighboring parcel; a 1960 survey revealed the road actually encroached on the true boundary, but successive owners of the Hibbards' land, including the Sanders (defendants) starting in 1976, continued using the road, even though the Sanders had actual notice of the true boundary. The Chaplins bought the neighboring land in 1978 without knowing the true boundary, later learned of it, and sued to quiet title. The trial court found the Sanders had adversely possessed the road but not an adjacent strip; the court of appeals reversed as to the road, holding the Sanders lacked hostility because they knew the land wasn't theirs.
Whether a claimant's subjective belief about her ownership interest in land is relevant to establishing the hostility element required for adverse possession.