Larsen v. Sanzieri
Larsen v. Sanzieri
Opinion of the Court
Ejectment to recover possession of a strip of land 18 feet in width. Trial to a jury, verdict and judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals.
No exception was taken hy defendant to any of the court’s instructions, nor does he claim that they were erroneous, but asserts that the evidence does not sustain the verdict of the jury. It will be unnecessary to ascertain whether the instructions correctly reflect the law, for, if the verdict responds thereto and is supported by the evidence, the judgment was right, as it was the duty of the jurors to follow said instructions. Boyesen v. Heidelbrecht, 56 Neb. 570. The jurors were instructed that plaintiff was entitled to recover unless defendant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he had acquired title by adverse possession to the land in controversy, and that to establish such defense he must prove that such possession was hostile in its inception and continued uninterruptedly for ten years, was open, notorious, adverse, and exclusive, and held during all of that time under claim of ownership.
Under the instruction that unless Long’s possession was hostile in its inception the jurors should find for defendant, they could not do otherwise than to return the verdict that they did. On the other hand, if defendant is entitled to the benefit of the law that possession need not be hostile in its inception, but that the statute would commence to run as soon as such possession was adverse (Cervena v. Thurston, 59 Neb. 343), then it was still for the jury to say from Mr. Long’s testimony whether that possession ever did become adverse (Gaines v. Saunders, 87 Mo., 557). Nor was the jury bound to find for defend
As controlled by tbe court’s instructions, tbe evidence cannot be said to be insufficient to sustain tbe verdict, and tbe judgment of tbe district court, therefore, is
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.