## Facts

- In 1807, Benjamin Harrington conveyed two parcels to the Town of Shelburne by warranty deed; one was restricted for use as a green/parade ground, and the other (the .88-acre parcel) was conveyed on the condition that the Town build and continue to use a meeting house on it.
- In 1808, the “White Church” was built on the .88-acre parcel and served as a meeting house for congregations and also as town governmental space until 1865.
- In 1865, the White Church burned; in 1867, a new town hall was built on the same spot and continued to serve as a place of public worship.
- In 1871, a two-story school building was built next to the town hall on the .88-acre parcel.
- In 1925, the town hall and school were destroyed by fire.
- In 1926, the Town built a new school on the .88-acre parcel.
- In 1927, the Town built a new town hall/meeting-house function on a different nearby parcel; the .88-acre parcel thereafter functioned as the school site rather than a meeting-house site.
- In 1994, the Town filed a quiet title action seeking a declaration that it owned the .88-acre parcel free of the deed’s meeting-house condition.
- Harrington’s heirs asserted that the deed condition was breached when the Town ceased using the parcel as a meeting-house site, causing the property to revert to them.

## Issues

1. Whether the Town could acquire title by adverse possession against the grantor’s heirs after the deed’s meeting-house condition was no longer satisfied.
2. Whether the statute of limitations for recovery of land was barred by an exception for land “held for public use” where the adverse possessor was a municipality using the land for public purposes.
3. Whether characterizing the original estate as a determinable fee versus a fee on condition subsequent changed when the heirs’ interest became possessory or prevented adverse possession.
4. Whether potential claims concerning the separate green/parade-ground parcel affected title to the .88-acre parcel.

## Decision

- The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the Town.
- The court held the Town acquired title to the .88-acre parcel by adverse possession once its use became inconsistent with the meeting-house condition, no later than the 1926–1927 shift to exclusive school use and relocation of the town hall elsewhere.
- The fifteen-year limitations period for actions to recover land ran against the heirs; the “public use” exception did not apply because it focuses on use by the legal owner, not by a trespasser/adverse possessor.
- The determinable-fee versus condition-subsequent distinction did not alter the result; once the condition was breached and the heirs had a possessory claim, that claim was subject to being extinguished by adverse possession if not timely asserted.
- Any issues concerning the green/parade-ground parcel did not cloud title to the .88-acre parcel because the deed treated the parcels as distinct and severable.

## Legal Principles

- A grantee-municipality may acquire title by adverse possession against a grantor’s heirs after a deed condition limiting use is breached and the municipality continues open, notorious, continuous, and hostile possession for the statutory period.
- The limitations exception for land “held for public use” turns on whether the legal owner holds the land for public use; public use by an adverse possessor does not prevent the statute from running.
- For limitations and adverse-possession purposes, the determinable-fee/condition-subsequent classification does not shield the grantor’s heirs once their interest becomes possessory upon breach and they fail to act within the statutory period.
- Separate parcels conveyed under different restrictions are analyzed independently when determining title and reversion claims.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the Town’s ownership of the .88-acre parcel free of the deed’s meeting-house restriction because the Town’s long, obvious post-breach use of the land as a school satisfied adverse-possession requirements and the public-use exception did not stop the limitations period from running against the heirs.


In re .88 Acres of Prop., 165 Vt. 17, 676 A.2d 778 (Vt. 1996)