Losing Your Land - Part IV

Paul and Denise Przybylo, and their neighbor G. Scott Walling just couldn't seem to get along. They had a series of disagreements over little things that neighbors sometimes fight about -- barking dogs, bright lights, things like that. Perhaps on the theory that if Mr. Walling were out of sight, he'd be out of mind, the Przybylos decided to plant some large trees along the property line between their land and Mr. Walling's.

Unfortunately for the Przybylo's, a survey of the line to determine where the trees should be planted determined that Mr. Walling had been maintaining a strip of their land for more than a decade. Mr. Walling then sued claiming ownership of the land under the legal doctrine of adverse possession. According to the Glens Falls Post-Star, a court awarded the 5,800-square-foot strip of land to Mr. Walling.

The Przybylos case have filed an appeal. They've also convinced New York Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, to draft a bill that would amend the state's adverse possession law to prevent similar cases.