Richard Ruelas

The Republic | azcentral.com

An increasingly valuable parcel of land in downtown Tempe that resembles a junkyard could stay that way for the next few years, as the battle for its ownership winds through the appeals' process.

Jack Wilenchik, the attorney for a man claiming title to the land through squatters rights, said Wednesday he is willing to take the case up to the Arizona Supreme Court if necessary.

Wilenchik made his statement following a hearing about the case in Maricopa County Superior Court. His client, Steven Sussex, did not attend the hearing.

Tempe owns the land, thanks to a 2015 court ruling, but has not made any move to oust Sussex, nor the collection of trucks, boats and building materials scattered along the property. That junkyard, about a quarter-mile from Tempe Town Lake, is on display for passengers looking out the windows of passing light-rail trains.

“To their credit, it’s not like (Tempe) has made any threat to evict him,” Wilenchik said. “They haven’t kicked him off the land.”

The hearing in Superior Court on Wednesday concerned two matters. Tempe wants Sussex to pay the cost of its attorneys fighting the case. And Wilenchik wants to refile his complaint in the case, based on what he said were new facts since the judge’s dismissal. Wilenchik said that long-shot legal maneuver was made so he could raise the claims in it in his appeal.

Wilenchik said he expects to take the Superior Court ruling to the Arizona Court of Appeals and, if unsuccessful there, would take the case to the Arizona Supreme Court. Wilenchik has worked pro bono on the case since 2012.

The judge made no rulings Wednesday, taking the matters under advisement.

A recap of why this is happening

The battle is over a piece of property located a short walk from the bustling bars and restaurants on Mill Avenue.

Sussex’s property is not bustling, but rather littered. It is a dirt lot filled with vehicles in various states of operation, collected by Sussex, a self-described “junker.” A survey of the lot Wednesday morning found at least two boats, the front of a semitruck, a motor home and a bus spray-painted with an image of Snoopy.

The property also holds an adobe home, which Tempe's historical records claim is one of the oldest structures in the region.

Sussex says his family has lived on the property since the 1890s and has some right to claim title.

Wilenchik said that before bringing this lawsuit, he tried negotiating a fair price for Sussex. But, he said, the city's highest offer was $10,000. Wilenchik said he figured even that figure was off the table.

“I’d like to bring this 100-year battle to a close,” Wilenchik said.

Court battles

Sussex already lost half of his family’s original parcel when the state of Arizona took him to court and argued his family had trespassed for more than a century. A judge agreed, ruling in 2010 that the state owned the western section of the property.

That ruling said the land, given by the federal government to Arizona at statehood, could not be owned by Sussex regardless of how long his family had squatted there.

This battle is over the eastern part of the land, which Tempe bought from the Union Pacific railroad and out from under Sussex in 2002.

Sussex took the city to court in 2015 claiming he was the rightful owner.

Tempe won dismissal of that case, with a judge ruling Sussex had no legal leg to stand on.

Christopher Davis, a Tempe city attorney, told Judge Patricia Starr that the city is owed attorneys’ fees for its time on the case because Wilenchik filed it in bad faith.

“We do feel like we’ve been a little bit hijacked in this matter,” Davis told the court. “We’ve spent considerable resources defending something we have every right to do.”

Davis told the court the city has spent $27,646 on the case.

“It’s not a matter of them not meeting their burden of proof,” Davis said. “They had no legal justification whatsoever.”

Sussex's claim to the land

Sussex's claim to the land comes through squatters rights, legally called adverse possession.

Sussex’s grandparents bought the property and the adobe house on the parcel, located at First Street and Farmer Avenue, in 1892, two decades before statehood.

In court papers, Sussex has argued that his family has lived “openly and notoriously” on the property ever since. Under Arizona’s adverse possession laws, if a person squats on land for more than a decade and the rightful owner does nothing to evict them, the squatter can claim title to the property.

Tempe successfully argued that those statutes don’t apply to governments.

Wilenchik, though, asked the court Wednesday to let him refile his complaint. He said he learned after the court’s ruling how much the city paid for the property when it bought it from Union Pacific railroad. Wilenchik did not disclose the amount in court. But, he said, it was above the amount of debt that Arizona governmental entities are allowed to take on.

Therefore, he said, Tempe was acting like a private corporation and not a government agency and is subject to the squatters statutes.

“The city inconsistently wants to be both the state and not the state,” Wilenchik argued. “It wants to have its cake and eat it, too.”

Davis said the city is not claiming immunity from adverse possession statutes. It is simply defending its right to make a legal business deal. “That’s all a red herring,” Davis said. “It’s a moot argument.”

Davis reminded the court that it was Sussex who filed the suit against the city. Tempe took no action.

The city has been angling for the property since at least 1992, before the creation of Tempe Town Lake and just as Tempe was revitalizing its Mill Avenue restaurant, bar and shopping district.

The area, which used to front a dry riverbed that residents used as a junkyard, has since seen new high-end apartments and condominium complexes. Two restaurants, the Lodge, from celebrity chef Aaron May, and Culinary Dropout, from dining impresario Sam Fox, are now on the corners just across the property.

Tempe attorneys had no comment following court Wednesday. City officials have not detailed what they would do with the property, but spokespeople have shown maps of a pedestrian path that would lead to the lake.

Tempe also has not said if efforts would be made to preserve the adobe house on the property.

Family squatted in Tempe for 120 years; in court, city asks judge to toss their claim to land