Neighborhood Meeting - Round 2

Today we had another neighborhood meeting to further decide how to precede with the 'nutjob' on Caprock, who's been giving everyone problems. So we met at one of our neighbors house and discussed the issue. Another neighbor had pressured his title insurance company to produce a map or any other official document, that clarifies the whole easement issue. We now have a document that has been officiated by the county. This document spells out an easement along what is now Yucca Hills Road long before that patch of land even had been developed and subdivided into parcels of land. What pretty much means that the easement predates any current landowners claim. Sounds great in theory, but in reality that doesn't mean much... especially knowing that 'nutjob'. In order to be able to solve the entire issue we need what is called prescriptive easement. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about here the definition of a prescriptive easement.

A prescriptive easement arises if someone uses part of your property without your permission. A prescriptive easement involves only the loss of use of part of a property, for example a pathway or driveway. Payment of property taxes is not required, as it is to obtain title by adverse possession. Adverse possession of a prescriptive easement involves the loss of an entire property by open, notorious, hostile adverse and continuous use.
The legal test to acquire a prescriptive easement of another owner is that the use must be (a) open, not secret, (b) notorious, clearly observable, (c) hostile, without the landowner's consent and (c) continuous, without interruption for the number of years required by state law. For example, the minimum hostile use varies from 5 years in California to 30 years in Texas.
The most common prescriptive easement arises when a fence is erected several feet on the wrong side of a boundary line. If the hostile user meets all the requirements, after the required number of years, a permanent prescriptive easement results for the strip of land. Prescriptive easements can be shared, that is, the hostile use need not be exclusive. Use can be shared with the legal owner and/or other hostile prescriptive claimants.
To perfect a legal prescriptive easement, the hostile user must bring a quiet title lawsuit against the property owner and prove all the open, notorious, hostile and continuous use requirements.
If, after purchasing your property, you suspect that a neighbor is using land with belongs to you, that person or neighbor being a "hostile user", you can choose to grant permission to your neighbor thus preventing a permanent prescriptive easement from arising. Permission should be documented such as by a letter to the hostile user.

Once the court has awarded a prescriptive easement, it becomes part of your title. That would solve the problem with that 'nutjob' once and for all, since he would no longer have any rightful claim to the disputed stretch of land.
For now we've decided to send out an agreement to all the neighbors on Yucca Hills Road to see, how many people want to join the lawsuit. If I counted right there are at least 7 property owners in agreement, that a lawsuit should be filed. Considering the time it takes to get all the necessary paperwork together, considering the fact that one of our neighbors does it pro bono and considering the fact that every property owner on Caprock and Yucca Hills Road has to be officially served with the lawsuit... we're looking at early December when the lawsuit can be filed with the court! And the litigation process takes somewhere between 14 month and 2 years.

I will keep you guys posted on the progress!