Adolph R. Kazmir and Ruth S. Kazmir v. Ruben A. Benavides and Sylvia Benavides

Summary

The Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirmed a bench-trial judgment awarding Ruben A. Benavides and Sylvia Benavides title to an approximately four-foot-wide strip of land through adverse possession. The court held that possession under a contract for deed could satisfy the exclusivity requirement and that the evidence established continuous, hostile, open, and visible use of the disputed area for more than ten years. The court also upheld the legal sufficiency of the evidence regarding continuity of occupancy and the appellees' intent to claim the property.

Holdings

1. The Benavideses' testimony that they continuously leased Lot 13 from 1978 through trial and that their tenants used the property in the same manner was legally sufficient evidence of continuous possession.
2. A contract for deed passed sufficient interest in Lot 13 to give the Benavideses exclusive possession of Lot 13 and the disputed area and allowed them to commence adverse possession for their own benefit.
3. The evidence was legally sufficient to establish the Benavideses' hostile intent to possess and visible appropriation of the disputed area.
4. The evidence supported the conclusion that the Benavideses established adverse possession of the disputed area under Texas's ten-year limitations statute.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to establish continuity of the Benavideses' possession while Lot 13 was rented to successive tenants.
2. Whether possession under a contract for deed supplied the exclusive possession and sufficient property interest necessary for the Benavideses to commence adverse possession of the disputed area for themselves.
3. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to establish the Benavideses' intent to claim the disputed area and their visible appropriation of it.
4. Whether the trial court's judgment awarding title and possession to the Benavideses should be affirmed.

Disposition

affirmed