The Rogers family lost their house in a fire in August 2020. The house was on a flag lot in Riverside County. When it was built in 1980, there was an unused tract of land in front of it.

Years later, in 1995, that unused land was sold to Deb, who built a house on it and lived there until 1998 at which point she moved to a cabin in Canada to live "off grid" with no access to phone or internet.In 2008, Delia, who worked as a tutor for a neighborhood kid, noticed the house had been empty, mail piling up. Delia moved into Deb's house and started taking care of it as if it was her own. She turned the utilities on and paid them monthly. She even paid the property taxes.

Fast forward to 2020. When the Rogers' house burned down, they wanted to rebuild. The driveway of the Rogers' flag lot was too narrow for the heavy equipment and vehicles necessary to access to property. The Rogers asked their neighbor in front of them, Delia, if part of her lawn could be used as a temporary road for the vehicles. Delia declined. The Rogers offered to pay for any damages and even re-sod Delia's entire lawn and plant new trees once the building was complete. Again, Delia refused to give the Rogers permission to use her land for construction vehicle traffic.

The Rogers, desperate to rebuild their home, told their contractor he had full access to the lot in front of them (Delia's property) and the construction trucks rolled in, and continued to drive across Delia's yard numerous times per day during the months of construction. Delia wanted to sue the construction company for trespass but she was concerned that she may not be able to bring a lawsuit since, although she felt like it was her home, she had been essentially "squatting" on the property since she moved in. Meanwhile, hearing that Delia was angry, and after not seeing their old neighbor, Deb, for years, the Rogers decided to research at the county recorder's office to see who owns the property. The county recorder's records show that Deb's name was on the most recent deed.

If Delia sues the construction company for trespass, will she win? In answering, think about what rights Delia may or may not have to the property. Regardless of who owns the property, was the construction company trespassing? If Delia owns the property, can she get punitive damages from the construction company?

(Answer in IRAC format- one IRAC per issue - you will have more than one IRAC)