Adverse possession suit pits Eliot Spitzer against high-rise

Adverse possession cases — where one claims a property right that is owned by someone else — typically involve relatively small-stakes disputes over things like suburban property lines or driveways.

But one has arisen in a most unlikely of place (Fifth Avenue at 79th Street in Manhattan) involving two unlikely litigants (two luxe high-rises, one of which is owned by Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York) over an unlikely parcel (a small, unassuming ditch referred to in a lawsuit as “the Pit”), the New Yorker reported.

The 350-square-foot Pit is owned by Spitzer’s building, 985 Fifth Avenue, which is on the parcel’s north side. But the building on the Pit’s south side, 980 Fifth Avenue, claims it has used that land for more than three decades as a storage area for materials like tar, bricks and pavers, the outlet reported.

But Spitzer wants to reclaim the use of the Pit as part of his plans to replace his building with a larger, more luxurious development. The loss of the previously innocuous parcel could result in lengthy and costly delays for the project, the New Yorker said.

Representatives of the south-side high-rise are having a difficult time finding an alternative storage facility, as other options are too costly, too inconvenient, or both. All of which has led to the adverse possession lawsuit filed by the south-side building. 

Anyone who has gone through one year of law school is familiar with the legal doctrine of adverse possession and its acronym OCEAN, which stands for open, continuous, exclusive, adverse, notorious. 

Adam Leitman Bailey, the attorney for the south-side high-rise who says his client meets all of the requirements to claim possession of The Pit, noted the unusual circumstances of the case as well as the policy behind it.

“This is euphoria for a real-estate attorney,” he told the New Yorker. “The philosophy in America is to use your land or lose it.” 

The parties don’t seem to be close to reaching a settlement to the lawsuit, which Spitzer called “an embarrassment,” the outlet reported.

“The law does not look kindly on cases that are brought for the purposes of harassment,” he told the New Yorker. “We let them store a few bricks in our backyard, and it leads to this? It’s the kind of thing you do for your neighbor.”

While Manhattan adverse possession cases are exceedingly rare, they do pop up from time to time, sometimes under equally bizarre circumstances. 

An adverse possession case between Extell Development and the Elo Organization over an 18-inch strip of land that both parties claimed to own has dragged out more than three years, stalling Extell’s plans for a 534-key hotel.

— Ted Glanzer