Oscar owned a fee simple absolute in Blueacre, a house with…
Oscar owned a fee simple absolute in Blueacre, a house with a large backyard he used as his home. Anna lived in the adjacent house. 15 years ago, Oscar spent the summer living in his vacation cottage in Italy. Noticing Oscar was absent that summer, Anna planted a vegetable garden in Blueacre’s backyard. This pattern continued for the next 15 years: Oscar spent every summer in Italy, and Anna used the backyard as her vegetable garden during that period. When Oscar returned at the end of each summer, he noticed the ground in his backyard was somewhat disturbed, but he attributed this to gophers. Last summer, however, when Anna entered Oscar’s backyard to plant her garden, she discovered Oscar was still there. Oscar told her: “Get out of my backyard!” Anna replied: “It’s my land now!” The statutory period for adverse possession is 10 years. Who owns the Blueacre backyard? Why?
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