In 1957, Hibbard decided to clear his land in order to open a trailer park. Because there was no clear boundary between Hibbard's property and the adjoining property to the east, Hibbard cleared the property up to a large drainage ditch and installed an access road to the left of the ditch to signify the property line. Hibbard opened a trailer park facility, and later that year, McMurray, the owner of the eastern parcel, had a survey conducted. McMurray informed Hibbard that the access road encroached on his property by 20 feet. Subsequently, Hibbard sold the trailer park to Gilbert and noted in the sales contract that (1) the driveway encroached 20 feet on McMurray's property, (2) Gilbert agreed not to claim ownership of the property, and (3) Gilbert agreed he would remove the blacktop if ever requested to do so. From 1967 to 1976, the property changed ownership several times but no mention was made of the encroachment or contract provision from the Hibbard Gilbert sale. In 1976, Sanders purchased the trailer park and was given notice of the encroachment and provision but mistook the road to which the notice referred. Since the development of the trailer park, the road had been continuously used, and the area between the drainage ditch and road had been maintained by the various trailer park property owners (through means such as planting flowers and mowing the grass) and used by residents for picnics. Sanders also installed underground wiring and surface poles in the area. Two years later Chaplin purchased the eastern lot from McMurray, had a survey conducted, and had architects design buildings for development based on the true property line from the survey. Washington requires a 10-year period of use in order to establish adverse possession.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Are all of the elements for adverse possession met so that Sanders now has title to the disputed parcel? Why or why not?

2. What is the appropriate starting time from which to measure ownership in order to satisfy Washington's statutory requirement for 10 years of possession?