A decades-long dispute over a single parking spot in Old Orchard Beach has been decided by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. A lower court had ruled that Pearl Inn Condominiums had squatters' rights to the spot because tenants had used it for decades.
Longview Hotel Condominiums appealed the decision to the high court, arguing that deeds show the parking spot belongs to them, and that Longview had paved, plowed, and paid taxes on it for decades.
The supreme court said there wasn't evidence to demonstrate that unit owners of Longview used the spot, and that the challenge of Pearl's claims to the spot came decades after the dispute began.
Thomas Miscio, attorney for Longview, said the outcome could have been different if the lawsuit had been filed earlier.
"It's a case where neighbors were being nice to each other. And it ended up turning around and biting them in the butt," he said.
Miscio said the ruling means that two or three parking spots in the Longview Hotel lot can no longer be used, and parking spaces will have to be reconfigured in order to accommodate Longview clients.
"The space that Pearl was awarded in the lawsuit reaches far enough into the Longview parking lot so that they can no longer use several spaces that they were using before," Miscio said. "That award to Pearl in possession affects my clients' parking because of the width of the space awarded."
Miscio also argued that Longview Hotel Condominiums paved, plowed and paid taxes on the land for decades, but he says his clients aren't interested in trying to get that money back. The town will now need to rewrite the deeds on the property.
