Van Valkenburgh v. Lutz

The Lutz family (defendant) accessed their own lots by cutting across neighboring Lot 19 for decades, eventually building structures and running a gardening business there despite knowing they didn't own it; when the Van Valkenburghs (plaintiff) later bought Lot 19 and demanded removal, Lutz agreed to remove some structures but sued (and won) for a continuing right-of-way easement across the land, a suit in which he necessarily proceeded on the basis that Van Valkenburgh owned Lot 19. Van Valkenburgh later sued over Lutz's remaining structures (a garage and shed), and Lutz counterclaimed that he'd acquired title to the land by adverse possession over more than 30 years; the trial court agreed with Lutz, the intermediate appeals court affirmed, and Van Valkenburgh appealed further.