Ocean City is set to take the case over the beloved Boardwalk home of Dumser's Dairyland to the highest court in the state.

The town will submit a request for reconsideration to the Maryland Court of Appeals to see who actually owns the land Dumser's sits on.

The debate over the rightful owners of the property started in 2016, following two 25-year contracts in which the Rapoports and their heirs had permission from Ocean City to build a structure with a shop (now Dumser's) and an apartment on the land.

When the second contract ended, Ocean City Solicitor Guy Ayres told the heirs to vacate the property. Nathans Associates, however, took the case to court, arguing they owned the property now by adverse possession.

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Adverse possession is when someone occupies someone else’s property under some claim of ownership for a period of at least 20 years. Nathans Associates argued that the town had abandoned its interest in the property and, in doing so, abandoned its legal ownership.

Ocean City in return argued that the property sat within "a dedicated and accepted public easement prior to Mr. Rapoport’s acquisition of title via adverse possession."

Before the announcement, the most recent move in the case happened when an appeals court sent the case of ownership back to Worcester County Circuit Court. It said the town failed to demonstrate the property was within the public easement and had Ocean City and the mayor paying court costs.

Ocean City Town Councilman Mark Paddack slammed the decision in a public Facebook post, saying that what the town stands to gain by appealing the case is not more valuable than the cost to taxpayers and the public resentment associated with trying to harm what many consider to be a landmark.

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"To continue and attempt to crush a business that generates revenue and fosters memories for hundreds of families makes no sense to me," Paddack wrote.

Mona Strauss, one of the members of Nathans Associates, noted after the ruling in December that the public largely sided against Ocean City.

Reach reporter Hayley Harding by email at hharding@delmarvanow.com or on Twitter @Hayley__Harding.