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Property Keyed to French
Goulding v. Cook
Citation:
661 N.E.2d 1322 (Mass. 1996)Facts
The plaintiff, the Gouldings, and the defendant, the Cooks, owned neighboring residences. The Cooks cespool malfunctioned, and they were required by the city to build a septic system to retain use of their home. There was a 3,000 square foot triangle of land the Cooks claimed belonged to them, but the Gouldings claimed was theirs. The Cooks tried to negotiate with the Gouldings to use it to build the septic system they needed, but negotiations failed. The Goulding’s requested a preliminary injunction from the Land Court to stop the Cooks from building the septic system, but the injunction was denied. Under pressure from the city, the Cooks built the septic system on the disputed parcel while still awaiting a ruling on who owned it. The Land Court ruled in favor of the Goulding’s owning the land, but then granted the Cooks an easement to use the land for their septic system, at a price to be negotiated between the parties.
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