Adams v. Flinn

Summary

The Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals affirmed a Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas judgment quieting title to disputed land in favor of Gerald C. and Sharon J. Adams based on adverse possession. The court upheld partial summary judgment concerning two areas and the bench-trial determination concerning a third area, concluding that the Adamses established the required elements of adverse possession by clear and convincing evidence.

Holdings

1. Partial summary judgment was proper because the record showed no genuine dispute concerning the Adamses' exclusive, open, notorious, continuous, and adverse possession of Areas 1 and 2 for the statutory twenty-one-year period.
2. The judgment quieting title to Area 3 in the Adamses was supported by competent, credible evidence and therefore was not subject to reversal.
3. The trial court did not err by viewing the property and using the resulting clarification of the metes-and-bounds descriptions because the parties agreed to the view and the partial summary judgment was interlocutory and subject to modification before final judgment.
4. Flinn's assignments of error were overruled because his briefs contained no cogent argument or supporting legal analysis, and the court's independent review nevertheless disclosed no reversible error.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court properly granted partial summary judgment quieting title to Areas 1 and 2 based on adverse possession.
2. Whether the trial court properly entered judgment after a bench trial quieting title to Area 3 based on adverse possession.
3. Whether the trial court improperly relied on its view of the property to clarify the metes-and-bounds descriptions.
4. What standards of review applied to the partial summary judgment and the bench-trial judgment.

Disposition

affirmed