Adverse Possession Case Resurfaces

A dormant lawsuit that is attempting to take a piece of land in West Barrington by adverse possession comes to life again on Monday, March 19, in Rhode Island Superior Court.

It’s a lawsuit that the Barrington Town Council was apprised of by Town Solicitor Mike Ursillo in an executive session after its meeting on Monday night. At least two of the councilors in their first terms had never heard of the lawsuit.

The land in question is at the east end of High Street – an unpaved paper street that intersects with Walnut Road. It is often described as a public right-of-way even though that appears to be in dispute.

The lawsuit is Muriel Dodd vs. Town of Barrington. It involves as plaintiffs, Mary and Joseph Piccerelli of 39 Walnut Road, the abutting property owners to High Street. Dodd was Mrs. Piccerelli’s mother; she has passed on since the lawsuit was filed.

The defendants are the Town of Barrington and the Piccerellis’ neighbors across the street, Michael and Kathy Flaherty of 40 Walnut Road. The Flahertys own two lots on the south side of the paper street and several lots off of High Street as well.

The lawsuit was filed in 2007, went through a trial until the presiding judge became ill, and has since sat in court for more than three years without action.

The Piccerellis have been using the unpaved street as a driveway to their garage for years, much like the previous owner used the paper street to gain access to the rear of that property.

At the same time, people in that neighborhood appear to have been using the paper street as a pedestrian cut-through to the west end of High Street, which is paved, and Washington Road. Many of those neighbors have signed and sent petitions to Town Hall to object to the taking of what they, too, believe is public property.

The Piccerellis also replaced a wooden fence that sits about 15 feet into the paper street. The old fence was built by the previous owner. It’s a fence that they were ordered to take down a couple of years ago by the town, although it never happened.

That lack of action has supplemented the feeling by Mike Flaherty, at least, that Piccerelli, a superintendent in the Barrington public works department, is being given favorable treatment by the town, especially Town Manager Peter DeAngelis Jr., the DPW chief before he moved into Town Hall.

“Joe is a friend of mine,” said DeAngelis. But he takes umbrage to the allegation that he is helping the Piccerellis gain the land.

Who owns the property is a question that needs an answer first before anyone can acquire it, DeAngelis said. And the town has already stated in court through Ursillo that it has no interest in the property, he said.

The fact that the town ordered the fence to be removed and then did not enforce that ruling, however, is seen by Flaherty as evidence that the town has a definite interest in the land as public property. It is just one of a slew of actions taken over the years by the town that indicates it is public property, he said.

Piccerelli’s attorney, Anthony DeSisto, disagrees, however.

“The town only accepted two-thirds of the street – the paved part of High Street,” he said. “The town never accepted the rest of it.”

In short, the unpaved portion of the street has been sitting for decades without an owner, DeSisto said.

“The Piccerellis went to the court to declare their rights and interests in the property,” DeSisto said. “It’s land that they have adversely possessed for more than 10 years.”

They want now to take over ownership of the property, he said, even though it will significantly raise their property tax bill by acquiring land they already use without cost.

The Piccerellis' use of the unpaved street, he said, is not unlike the use of the paper street on the east side of High Street by other property owners in that neighborhood, including the Flahertys. The continuation of High Street cuts through the neighborhood to Townsend Street, he said, and the Flahertys' driveway sits right on that paper street.

Why the lawsuit has languished in Superior Court is something of a mystery. Neither party seems to have pushed for a new trial.

But it is coming to life again on Monday because Flaherty is asking to have a restraining order against him removed. That court order brought by DeSisto prohibited him from setting foot on the contested piece of High Street while the case is in court.