Halverson v. City of Bellevue, 11185-0-I
Decision Date | 12 August 1985 |
Docket Number | No. 11185-0-I,11185-0-I |
Citation | 704 P.2d 1232,41 Wn.App. 457 |
Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Parties | Eileen J. HALVERSON, a single woman, Respondent, v. CITY OF BELLEVUE, the City Council of the City of Bellevue, and M. Tyrone Morgan and Cathryn R. Morgan, his wife, d/b/a M. Tyrone Morgan Construction Company, Appellants, and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Washington Federal Savings & Loan Association, Defendants. |
M. Tyrone Morgan, pro se.
Cohen, Andrews, Keegan & Goeltz, Thomas A. Goeltz, Seattle, for Eileen J. Halverson.
Honorable Linda M. Youngs, Bellevue City Atty., Richard L. Andrews, Bellevue, for City of Bellevue.
M. Tyrone Morgan and his wife (Morgan) and the City of Bellevue appeal an order setting aside approval by Bellevue of a final plat for a subdivision submitted by Morgan. Appellants assert the trial court erred in finding Eileen J. Halverson (Halverson) had an "ownership" interest in part of the property platted and also assert Halverson failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. We affirm.
In 1978, Morgan filed a preliminary plat application with the City of Bellevue, seeking to subdivide a plot of land for residential development. In June 1979, Halverson filed a lis pendens and complaint to quiet title to establish her ownership by adverse possession of a strip of land included in Morgan's plat. Halverson also directly notified the City by letter of her claim to ownership in regard to the plat application. On August 13, 1979, the Bellevue City Council granted preliminary plat approval. Final plat approval was granted on September 17, 1979. On October 4, 1979, the City issued a building permit for work including the disputed land. On the same day, Halverson instituted a writ of certiorari proceeding, challenging the validity of the plat.
Halverson prevailed on her claim of adverse possession and action to quiet title; 1 this case was tried separately. The trial court in this case ruled that approval of the final plat was "hereby set aside for an error in the law."
RCW 58.17.165 provides:
Every final plat or short plat of a subdivision ... filed for record must contain a certificate giving a full and correct description of the lands divided ... including a statement that the subdivision or short subdivision has been made with the free consent and in accordance with the desires of the owner or owners.
If the plat ... is subject to a dedication, the certificate ... shall contain the dedication of all streets and other areas to the public, ... Said certificate or instrument of dedication shall be signed and acknowledged before a notary public by all parties having any ownership interest in the lands subdivided and recorded as part of the final plat.
Every plat ... containing a dedication filed for record must be accompanied by a title report confirming that the title of the lands as described and shown on said plat is in the name of the owners signing the certificate or instrument of dedication.
Morgan and Bellevue contend that Halverson, as a claimant, rather than a record owner, had only a contingent ownership interest and therefore did not possess an "ownership interest", as provided in RCW 58.17.165. The essence of the claim is that Halverson should not have been considered an owner in this context until her adverse possession claim was adjudicated and her ownership interest made a matter of record. Halverson, on the other hand, contends that, upon the passage of the statutory period--here, 10 years--title passes by operation of law to the adverse possessor, whether or not a judgment to that effect is ever entered.
The statutes applicable here do not provide a direct answer to the question of how a city, town, or county should proceed in cases of disputed ownership of a portion of the property to be platted. However, RCW 58.17.165 requires a certificate of dedication be signed by "all parties having any ownership interest in the lands subdivided ..." "[A]ny ownership interest" is broad enough to include ownership of a portion of the land which is not yet a matter of public record because it was acquired through adverse possession.
The Bellevue City Code contained a similar provision, containing even broader language:
In addition to any other requirements set forth in this chapter or by state law, each final plat shall:
* * *
(6) Contain a certificate stating that the subdivision has been made with the free consent, and in accordance with the desires of the owner or owners. If the plat includes a dedication, the certificate shall also contain the dedication of all streets and other areas to the public ... Such certificate shall be signed and acknowledged before a Notary Public by all parties having any interest in the lands subdivided.
(Italics ours.) Former Bellevue City Code § 22C.10.250. This provision is not worded in terms of "ownership." Halverson's interest in the land subdivided was made clear when she put the City Council on notice that she was claiming a portion of the land by adverse possession.
The law is clear that title is acquired by adverse possession upon passage of the 10-year period....
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