Golobe v. Mielnicki

Summary

The Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment declaring John Golobe the sole owner of the property through adverse possession and dismissing the Trust's fraud and breach-of-fiduciary-duty counterclaims. It held that a cotenant may acquire full ownership without ouster after the statutory presumption of nonadverse possession expires, even when neither party knew of the cotenancy, and that Golobe's possession otherwise satisfied the adverse-possession requirements. The Court also held that Golobe reasonably relied on a disinterested family friend's testimony in identifying the estate's distributees and that the Trust could not establish scienter or reliance for fraud.