Purchase Offer

"Here, the first issue on appeal is how an offer to purchase has an impact on these elements. To assert her position that Cahill’s 1997 offer to purchase lot 19 negates Cahill’s claim of right by failing to deny the owner’s title, Morrow argues that this Court should adhere to our precedent in Picerne and decline to credit the “dicta” in Tavares that the trial justice relied upon. Opportunely, however, the instant case permits this Court to affirm both precedents while clarifying a salient point of law regarding the effect offers to purchase have on the adverse possession elements of hostility and claim of right. Analogously here, Cahill did not deny Morrow’s title when she sent her 1997 letter to George Morrow. Rather, she was outwardly declaring to the rightful owner himself the viability of his title and fully acknowledging her subservient interest to that owner’s title. This manifestation from Cahill interrupted the accrual of her claim. Accordingly, applying Picerne to the instant facts, we hold that Cahill failed to deny George Morrow’s title by her 1997 letter, thereby halting her adverse-possession claim at that time. Cahill went beyond mere knowledge that she was not the record owner by sending the offer-to-purchase letter. As distinguished from the Tavares claimant who did not communicate his survey findings with anyone, Cahill’s letter objectively declared the superiority of George Morrow’s title to the record owner himself. In the face of this precedent, Cahill contends that the trial justice accurately applied the law by finding that an offer to purchase does not automatically negate a claim of right in the property. While we agree that this proposition is correct with respect to offers made in an effort to make peace in an ongoing dispute, we disagree that this proposition applies in situations, as here, where no preexisting ownership dispute is evident. Richterberg dealt with an already disputed claim and offer to compromise. Here, there was no dispute ongoing when Cahill sent the 1997 letter. Her offer was not an olive branch meant to put an end to pending litigation with the Morrows. Rather, it was a clear declaration that Cahill “wanted title to the property.” By doing so, she necessarily acknowledged that her interest in lot 19 was subservient to George Morrow’s. Manning and Branch were likewise inapposite because those offers were attempts to “buy his peace” or compromise an existing disagreement. Based on this caselaw, Cahill’s 1997 offer for purchase does, in fact, recognize the superior title of the record owner and arrests the accrual of her claim. The 1997 letter was not an attempt to make peace with her neighbors as a way to avoid litigation. Rather, Cahill was openly and objectively manifesting direct evidence that George Morrow was the true owner of lot 19 and her interest in the property was subservient to his. This communication negates the requisite claim of right that the doctrine of adverse possession requires and interrupts the accrual of Cahill’s claim."