It is no secret that going to court is expensive and time consuming. Land trusts succeed when they are prepared to meet the documentation, money and people costs of litigation. Preventative spending to head off disputes early and strong resolution skills for differences with landowners and neighbors can reduce the risk of lawsuits. Eventually, however, upholding lasting conservation may force your land trust into court. Great Land Trust in Alaska distilled its insights from a four-year legal battle with a trespasser who cut over 350 trees along with the dumping, spreading and compacting 28 dump truck loads of gravel. This gravel and associated trespassing crushed the forest vegetation, creating dead zones. Great Land Trust’s case management points are essential reading for every land trust!

Thank you,

Tom Kester
Operations Manager and Secretary
Alliance Risk Management Services LLC
Manager for Terrafirma Risk Retention Group LLC

PS: Applications for policy year 2023 open on Dec. 1! Please notify your accounts payable to update their vendor list and change the Terrafirma address to use the new P.O. Box address:

Issues with neighbors can be inevitable, even when everyone has good intentions. Ongoing disputes with neighbors can lead to claims of property damage, encroachment, nuisance or trespass. The inconsistent use of conservation property contrary to land trust guidelines can damage the conservation values or result in the land trust inadvertently granting an impermissible private benefit to the trespasser. The outcome of litigation is decided by state and local law, so land trusts should consult with experienced local counsel.

Terrafirma currently has 164 open claims regarding some type of neighbor difficulty, usually involving trespass or encroachments but also involving boundary disputes, access disputes and legal disputes about the enforceability of easements. Of the 164 total neighbor claims, 16 are covered claims in litigation or bound for litigation. Regardless of the nature of the dispute, there are some standard steps that can help prepare a land trust.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Hannah

Challenge

Definition

Violation

includes prohibited structures and uses, excessive recreational activity (such as all-terrain vehicles), surface alteration, timber harvest, and dumping, violation of a management plan and anything else that explicitly violates the stated terms of a conservation easement

Trespass

includes actions by third parties (neighbors, developers, government and so forth) such as vegetation removal, structural encroachment, fences, topography change and so forth.

Litigation Notice

when you receive written notice that a lawsuit has been filed against the land trust

Verbal or Other Threat of Violation or Trespass

includes threats to violate the conservation easement or trespass on fee land or conservation easement

Disregard of Easement Obligation

this is a catch all section for when a legal challenge does not fit into any other category for example transfer of water rights on paper to a holding company that technically disregards the no severance provision of the conservation easement but functionally retains the water rights in the same ownership

Mediation or Arbitration Notice

when you receive written notice of mediation or arbitration action

Adverse Claim of Legal Right

including adverse possession, contest by heir, boundary challenge, etc.

Have you seen any violations or trespass on your insured property this year? Remember to notify Terrafirma immediately when you first discover any problem that might become a claim under your Terrafirma 2013 policy (and tell your other insurers too just in case). Timing counts, so if you have something now file a claim by March 1, 2014. We will help you sort out the details and are always available to assist you. It's easy: go to the Terrafirma website, login and click on “Submit a Claim.”

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about filing claims or anything else, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.

Spring is here and monitoring is underway. While monitoring, you may find possible violations or trespass on your insured property. Remember to notify Terrafirma immediately when you first discover any problem that might become a claim under your Terrafirma policy (and tell your other insurers too just in case). We will help you sort out the details and are always available to assist you. If you want to have a preliminary chat first, feel free to call or write us by email. Here’s how to notify Terrafirma:

1. Log on to your account.
2. Update contact information, if necessary. If you want to add another contact to your account, you can add the contact by clicking on the option to update contact information on the left side of the screen.
3. Click on the option to notify of a possible claim in the menu. Enter in all of the available information on the claim, including a description of the claim, the damages, the name and contact info of the party involved, etc.
4. If the information requested on the form is not available (i.e. there is no additional insurance coverage or the other party does not currently have an attorney), enter “n/a.”
5. Terrafirma staff get an automatic copy as do all contacts listed on your account.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about submitting a claim or anything else, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.