Fairdealing Apostolic Church, Inc. v. Casinger
Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District
353 S.W.3d 396 (2011)
In 1936, a half-acre tract was deeded to a church that later incorporated as Fairdealing Apostolic Church, Inc. (Fairdealing) (plaintiff). When the church building went up, members fenced along a tree line they believed was the property boundary, but the fence actually sat on Casinger's (defendant) land, creating a .14-acre gap between the true line and the fence. In 1995 Casinger told the pastor about the mistake, but neither side acted; the next year Fairdealing built a new building and parking lot partly on the disputed strip. In 2009, Fairdealing sued to quiet title by adverse possession, and the trial court ruled in its favor.
Whether a claimant establishes adverse possession in Missouri by showing hostile, actual, open and notorious, exclusive, and continuous possession of the disputed property for ten years or more, including by tacking a predecessor's period of possession.