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Property Keyed to Sprankling
Van Valkenburgh v. Lutz
Citation:
106 N.E.2d 28 (1952).Facts
The Lutzes (the defendants) lived and had their home on Lots 14 and 15 on Leroy Avenue. Adjoining southwest of the defendants’ land were Lots 19, 20, 21, and 22, which were vacant lots on Gibson Place that were covered in brush and small trees. The road the defendants lived on, Leroy Avenue, was unpaved and steep, so the defendants entered their property by parking on Gibson Place and crossing the vacant lots using a walkway, or “traveled way,” that they had cleared from brush. As of 1916, the defendants had cleared most of the vacant lots and were using them to farm and had built a one-room home for Mr. Lutz’s brother. In 1937, the Van Valkenburghs (the plaintiffs) purchased property on the other side of Gibson Place, across the street from the vacant lots. Because no one paid taxes on the property, it was auctioned off at a foreclosure sale in 1947, and the plaintiffs purchased it for $379.50. The defendants didn’t receive notice of the foreclosure sale, and after the plaintiffs’ purchase, they demanded the defendants leave the land. Mr. Lutz died in 1948, leaving all his property to his wife, Mrs. Lutz.
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