Land-grabber Deluxe

Using an “adverse possession” common law, a former judge, mayor and city council member in Boulder, Colorado, named Richard McLean, seized a couple’s land after developing an “emotional attachment” to it.

And that’s all he needed.

The judge had been trespassing on Kirlins’ property for over 20 years. He hadn’t taken a shine to the entire land. No, he just wanted enough of render it useless for development. It’s an awful story, but I think it says plenty about the state of property rights in the country today.

(It should be pointed out, there has been an outpouring of anger about the case locally.)

The story is so absurd, so unfair, so ludicrous, I had a difficult time believing that it could actually happen - even in Boulder.

It’s about a couple named Don and Susie Kirlin. They moved to the city in 1980. A few years later, the Kirlins purchased a plot of land near their residence, hoping to someday build a “dream home.”

“We took advantage of the market in the early ’80s,” says Susie Kirlin, almost apologetic for making a smart investment.

Children interfered slightly with the master plan - three of them in the next few years - postponing any development of the property.

As the children began to make their own way in life, the couple decided it was time to finally develop the property in late 2006.

By then, it was too late.

Despite owning the land, despite living only 200 yards from the property, despite hiking past it every week with their three dogs, despite spraying for weeds and fixing fences, despite paying homeowner association dues and property taxes each year, someone else had taken a shine to it. Someone powerful.

Former Boulder District Judge, Boulder Mayor, RTD board member - among other elected positions - Richard McLean and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, used an arcane common law called “adverse possession” to claim the land for their own.

Read the rest here.