Easement dispute

[America]

RE: The State of WA [Real Estate Law]

My husband and I have filed a lawsuit against our neighbor for putting a fence through our easement on our circle driveway. He had a survey done some years ago that did not show an easement, but our attorney found records that does, indeed show that we have an easement both by prescription and my subdivision ('described in weird 70's lingo'). $1,100 into this we've debated on dropping the suit 'cause it's getting too expensive. A friend of mine said we could take this to small claims court and have it settled much quicker for much cheaper. Is this true? If so, how do we proceed (drop the suit then start a new suit at small claims?? Fire our attorney but transfer the case over to small claims?) when we've already signed a retainer with our lawyer's firm?

Thanks in advance,
America

 

[NoJustice]

Easement Dispute

You are lucky to have stopped with $1,100.. We spent $12K before we finally decided to proceed on our own.. pro per..

In CA a "quiet title" action cannot be taken to small claims. Currently the judge is attempting to make us do a lot line adjustment to resolve the easement and encroachment issues. The Judge has ordered us to give the neighbor about 1/2 acre of our level rural property with a well on it (worth about $15K) in exchange for equal acreage on a steep downhill slope (worth about $1500), and no damages. We have a recorded deed with no uncertainty about the property boundaries or easements. We plan to appeal.

Good Luck....

NoJustice

 

[America]

Thank you

We spoke with our attorney again last night and she said that real property disputes cannot be tried is small claims here in WA either. She said we are wise to want to drop the suit now, if we can live with the fence, because people usually get in horrible piss matches over these things and cost thousands of dollars to resolve (she said up to $75k in some cases). She said that, with his track record, he didn't seem the type to settle or give up and that he'd appeal everything and keep it going. She said that if we won, he would just continue to make our lives hell by calling the police on every little thing we do (he's harassed us about our dogs from day one because he hates animals). This way he feels he has 'one up' on us and feels a bit powerful, has a bit more privacy, and may leave us be. We can set our pride aside and keep in mind that, at any time, we could pursue the suit again (within the next 10 years). That gives us a little leverage too. I know we'd win this case and get all our money back, but after how long and after how much money and after how many appeals?? It's not worth it to us. Our only hope is that we win the lottery some day and can pursue it then. I wish our attorney would have explained all this from the start - we'd have never sued him... she's not the best volunteer of information if you know what I mean (you have to ask perfect questions to get perfect answers it seems or she'll run you around in circles).

Thanks for your reassurance.