{"id":906,"date":"2026-10-11T13:53:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/?p=906"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:53:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:53:46","slug":"mowing-grass-trimming-bushes-not-sufficiently-open-and-notorious-to-justify-adverse-possession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/2026\/10\/11\/mowing-grass-trimming-bushes-not-sufficiently-open-and-notorious-to-justify-adverse-possession\/","title":{"rendered":"Mowing grass & trimming bushes not sufficiently \u201copen and notorious\u201d to justify adverse possession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Supreme Court of Ohio has held that mowing grass and trimming bushes is not sufficiently \u201copen and notorious\u201d to put a reasonable owner on notice that someone is taking possession of the land. NC Enters., LLC v. Norfolk & W. Ry.,<\/a> 2026 WL 1113731 (Ohio 2026). Some other courts agree. See<\/em> Siedlik v. Nissen, 931 N.W.2d 439 (Neb. 2019); Warren v. Burnham, 573 P.3d 421 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The holding is notable since some other courts have found to the contrary. See<\/em> Union Cemetery Burial Soc\u2019y of N. Smithfield v. Foisy, 292 A.3d 1205 (R.I. 2023); Jutting v. Hendrix, 606 N.W.2d 140, 142 (S.D. 2000). Cf.<\/em> Ballard v. Harman, 737 N.E.2d 411 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000) (planting 50 trees sufficient to obtain adverse possession).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court justified its ruling by taking the possession that adverse possession is \u201cdisfavored\u201d and the requirements to show its various elements \u201care stringent.\u201d (\u00b6 11) To prove that the possession is visible or \u201copen-and-notorious\u201d the acts \u201cmust enable the title landowner to have reason to know of the adverse use.\u201d (\u00b6 16) The acts must \u201cgive notice to the eal owner of the extent of the adverse claim.\u201d (\u00b6 18)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court determined that \u201clandscape maintenance\u201d does not satisfy the \u201copen and notorious\u201d requirement when no fence or structure was built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a dissent that argued that \u201cit is difficult to believe that a prudent owner of commercial property would not know that the property\u2019s law, trees, and vegetation were being maintained by another entity.\u201d (\u00b6 35)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court of Ohio has held that mowing grass and trimming bushes is not sufficiently \u201copen and notorious\u201d to put a reasonable owner on notice that someone is taking possession of the land. NC Enters., LLC v. Norfolk & W. Ry., 2026 WL 1113731 (Ohio 2026). Some other courts agree. See Siedlik v. Nissen, 931 N.W.2d 439 (Neb. 2019); Warren v. Burnham, 573 P.3d 421 (Or. Ct. App. 2025). The holding is notable since some other courts have found to the contrary. See Union Cemetery Burial Soc\u2019y of N. Smithfield v. Foisy, 292 A.3d 1205 (R.I. 2023); Jutting v. Hendrix, 606 N.W.2d 140, 142 (S.D. 2000). Cf. Ballard v. Harman, 737 N.E.2d 411 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000) (planting 50 trees sufficient to obtain adverse possession). The court justified its ruling by taking the possession that adverse possession is \u201cdisfavored\u201d and the requirements to show its various elements \u201care stringent.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adverse-possession"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"jsinger","author_link":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/author\/jsinger\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":907,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.law.harvard.edu\/joseph-singer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}