Do You Think What Is Yours, Is Really Yours?
Almost twenty years ago, Don and Susie Kirlin bought a vacant lot in scenic Boulder, Colorado and left it undeveloped and unvisited. It would a great spot to retire to. Or so this couple thought when they returned to their land (now worth about $3 million) two years ago. During the Kirlin’s absence, their adjoining neighbors, former Judge Richard McLean and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, had constructed a path and a garden on property that clearly wasn’t theirs. McLean and Stevens said that they thought the Kirlins wouldn’t mind. Wouldn’t mind?! Naturally, the Kirlins took their neighbors to court to evicted these wealth squatters. The court’s decision? Don and Susie have to GIVE up a third of their lot (worth about $1 million) to McLean and Stevens under a legal term known as “adverse possession.” This wonderful work of legal thievery states that you can gain possession of a property after using it without challenge by the owner. It helps tremendously if the owner is away and doesn’t know that you’re helping yourself to their possessions. I imagine that this was a tough decision for the presiding judge: to side with a former member of the bar under ‘adverse possession” or to side with the moralistic ideal of “thou shalt not steal.”
It looks like terrorists don’t have to be in another country, robbing our brave boys and girls of their life and limb. Apparently, terrorists can live here and pillage all they want under the guise of being a ‘judge’ and ‘lawyer’. If you live in Boulder and you happen by the home of McLean and Stevens, would you lobe a rotten egg at their house for me? Thanks.
