Vezey v. Green
Alaska Supreme Court
35 P.3d 14 (2001)
Angela Green (plaintiff) received a bluff parcel of family land as an unrecorded gift from her ailing grandmother Billie Harrild in 1982, and over the next decade built a house, cleared trees, created an access road with a chain and no-trespassing signs, cleared undergrowth, raised chickens, planted a garden, and set up a picnic area, typically working the property each summer while living in California the rest of the year. Allen Vezey (defendant), interested in the land as a rock quarry, checked title and bought the property from Harrild. Green sued Vezey claiming title by adverse possession, and the trial court found she'd adversely possessed the entire roughly 12-acre bluff area; Vezey appealed.
Whether, to establish title by adverse possession, a plaintiff must show by clear and convincing evidence that for the statutorily defined period, he actually possessed the property, and that possession was open and notorious, exclusive, continuous, hostile, and under claim of right.