Estate of Laura M. Hayden v. Ronald Pichler

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedMay 6, 2025
Docket2023AP001612
StatusUnpublished

This text of Estate of Laura M. Hayden v. Ronald Pichler (Estate of Laura M. Hayden v. Ronald Pichler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Laura M. Hayden v. Ronald Pichler, (Wis. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. May 6, 2025 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2023AP1612 Cir. Ct. No. 2021CV35

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT III

ESTATE OF LAURA M. HAYDEN,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,

V.

RONALD PICHLER,

DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT.

APPEAL from a judgment of the circuit court for Pepin County: THOMAS W. CLARK, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Stark, P.J., Hruz, and Gill, JJ.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

¶1 PER CURIAM. The Estate of Laura M. Hayden appeals from a judgment, entered following a bench trial, granting adverse possession of six No. 2023AP1612

parcels of land to Ronald Pichler pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 893.25 (2023-24).1 On appeal, the Estate raises numerous challenges to the circuit court’s decision, including that Ronald failed to prove his adverse possession claim by clear and positive evidence. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶2 At issue in this lawsuit is the ownership of six parcels of land, totaling 3.24 acres, located between Ronald’s and the Estate’s property. Consistent with the parties’ and the circuit court’s terminology, we refer to these parcels as Parcels A-F.

¶3 Clifford and Marlene Pichler—Ronald’s parents—purchased 40 acres of property (the “farmstead”) in 1961. At that time, the farmstead was bordered to the north and west by property that was owned by Patrick and Laura Hayden and is now owned by the Estate. At all times relevant to this appeal, the farmstead has been bordered by a highway to the east. Clifford and Marlene also owned another 40 acres of property (the “Northeast of the Southeast property”) that was directly south of the farmstead. Parcels A-E are located between the farmstead and the Estate’s property either to the north or west. Parcel F is located between the farmstead and the Northeast of the Southeast property.

¶4 Clifford and Marlene divorced in 1985, and their real property was divided. Clifford was awarded the farmstead, and Marlene was awarded the

1 Because several individuals relevant to this appeal share or shared the same surname, we refer to those individuals by their first names where appropriate.

All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2023-24 version.

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Northeast of the Southeast property. Shortly after the divorce, Marlene sold the Northeast of the Southeast property to Patrick and Laura, meaning the farmstead was surrounded by Patrick and Laura’s property to the north, west, and south, and by the highway to the east. Clifford transferred the farmstead to Ronald in two parts—one in 1992 and the other in 2008. Of significance, the portion of the farmstead included in the 1992 transfer bordered Parcels D-F, and the portion of the farmstead included in the 2008 transfer bordered Parcels A-C.

¶5 Following a dispute in 2015, which arose after Ronald built a house on Parcel D, the Estate filed this lawsuit, seeking a declaration of interest in Parcels A-F. In response, Ronald filed an adverse possession counterclaim for all six of the parcels. Ronald argued that he adversely possessed Parcels A-E as a result of his parents’ use of those parcels beginning in 1961. He further argued that he adversely possessed Parcel F as a result of his use of the parcel since 1992.

¶6 The matter proceeded to a bench trial, after which the circuit court made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law. A 2022 survey demonstrated that the farmstead was “bounded” by a “line fence” “on the north, west, and south sides.” The line fence was made up mostly of barbed wire. The court found that the line fence was in place from 1961 until at least the time of the survey and that Parcels A-F were on the farmstead side of the fence. Accordingly, the court determined that the six parcels were protected by a “substantial enclosure.”

¶7 Clifford and Marlene operated a dairy farm on the farmstead from 1961 until 1984. During the dairy farm’s operations, Clifford and Marlene’s “cattle grazed up to the line fence on all parts of the property.” The circuit court found that in addition to the dairy farm operations, the entire property—the

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farmstead and Parcels A-F—was used for “deer hunting, firewood cutting, four-wheeling, and other recreational purposes” beginning in 1961. Likewise, the court found that Ronald used the property transferred to him in 1992, including Parcel F, for “pasturing, deer hunting, … firewood cutting, … four-wheeling,” and “other recreational purposes” from 1992 to at least 2012.

¶8 The circuit court determined that Clifford and Marlene “occupied the area of the [farmstead] and the total area of [Parcels A-E] up to the line fence for a continued and uninterrupted period from 1961 to 1984.” Moreover, the court stated that the use of the property for dairy operations and other recreational activities, coupled with the line fence, “constituted open, notorious, and hostile possession of Parcels [A-E] for a continuous period of more than twenty years.” “[G]iven the twenty-year uninterrupted possession of Parcels [A-E], with a substantial enclosure and an open and notorious and hostile possession, the title to [those parcels] vested in Clifford and Marlene … in 1981.” Thus, “Clifford legitimately transferred ownership and title of” that portion of the farmstead, including Parcels A-E, to Ronald in 2008, and Ronald has “owned and occupied” those parcels since then.

¶9 Furthermore, the circuit court found that Ronald’s use of the farmstead, including Parcel F, coupled with the presence of the line fence, “constitute[d] open, notorious, and hostile possession of” Parcel F from 1992 to 2012. Therefore, the court concluded that Parcel F vested in Ronald in 2012. Lastly, the court found that any oral agreement between Patrick and Clifford in the 1980s as to the existence of a boundary along the southern boundary of the farmstead violated the statute of frauds and did not create a legally binding agreement or boundary. The court then awarded title to Parcels A-F to Ronald. The Estate now appeals.

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DISCUSSION

¶10 The Estate argues that the circuit court made both legal and factual errors in its ruling. First, the Estate asserts that the court erred as a matter of law by concluding that the statute of frauds barred consideration of the purported 1980s oral agreement between Patrick and Clifford concerning the farmstead’s southern boundary. Second, the Estate claims that Ronald failed to prove his adverse possession claim and that the evidence actually shows that the Estate is the true owner of Parcels A-F. And lastly, the Estate contends that the court erred by applying the “doctrine of acquiescence” when analyzing Ronald’s adverse possession claim.

¶11 Generally, “[a]n action for the recovery or the possession of real estate and a defense or counterclaim based on title to real estate are barred by uninterrupted adverse possession of 20 years.” WIS. STAT. § 893.25(1) (applying to adverse possession not founded on a written instrument); Wilcox v. Estate of Hines, 2014 WI 60, ¶25, 355 Wis. 2d 1, 849 N.W.2d 280 (stating that § 893.25 “codifies the common law elements of continuous, open, notorious, exclusive, and hostile possession”).

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Estate of Laura M. Hayden v. Ronald Pichler, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-laura-m-hayden-v-ronald-pichler-wisctapp-2025.