Nazhma Stoltzfus Partial Ownership

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Nazhma Stoltzfus, has brought a quiet title action seeking to assert her partial ownership rights to the farm and to recover damages for wrongful exclusion and conversion. Defendant Elmer Stoltzfus is moving for summary judgment on adverse possession grounds. Elmer’s should be denied because his possession of the land does not satisfy the hostile and adverse requirement of adverse possession.

The Stoltzfus siblings, Elmer and Sabrina, inherited their parents’ farm through intestacy in 1987. Two months ago, Sabrina died and left all of her belongings to her daughter, Nazhma. Missouri courts presume that a co-tenant holds the land in the interest of all his co-tenants unless he acts unequivocally against the interest of

Before seven, Nazhma had seen her mother raped and burned alive, her father beheaded and her brother eaten by a lion. Id. at 1. When Sabrina adopted Nazhma, she had lived alone in a cardboard and sheet metal hut for months. Id. at 2. For eighteen years, Sabrina raised Nazhma, serving as a mother and as an inspiration. With Sabrina’s support, Nazhma graduated from Colombia University’s undergraduate program and went on to New York University’s law school. Id. at 3. Two months ago, Nazhma lost her only remaining family when her mother Sabrina died of brain cancer. Id. Sabrina left everything to Nazhma. Id. at.4 Nazhma has since started two charities: Nazhma’s Center for Girls’ Education and, in memory of her late mother, the Sabrina Stoltzfus Foundation for Recovery, which provides vocational and psychological support for sexual abuse victims. Id. at 8.

After her parents’ died in 1987, Sabrina called Elmer to apologize for missing the funeral. Elmer’s Deposition at 2. During this call, he asked her if she would come work on the farm and told her about his plans to cut down trees to make a beet farm. Id. She chose to remain in New York, but gave him permission to use the farm, saying, “you do anything you want with that…farm.” Id. She was unable and unwilling to work the farm herself, due in part to her demanding career in New York and in part because she wanted to avoid Elmer. She never relinquished her rights to the