The Never-Ending Five-Acre Legal Battle
A landmark property dispute near 11th Street in Tacoma finally nears a conclusion after years of litigation that cost more than the value of the land itself.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Tomorrow, Judge Williamson will decide the title to a five-acre tract out on 11th Street, beyond K Street in Tacoma. This is the last of the litigation now tied up over this famous tract, over which more money has already been spent in court costs and lawyers' fees than would buy 100 acres in place of the five acres involved in the suit. The present battle is between the county, which claims the land by tax title, and Judge Klatcup and others, who claim the land by purchase. On these five acres, now in suit, a record has been made which embraces over 1,000 pages of testimony and pleadings.
“More money has already been spent in court costs and lawyers' fees than would buy 100 acres in place of the five acres involved in the suit.”
This 1899 report on a localized real estate squabble illustrates the long-standing, recursive nature of land disputes and legal costs in urban Washington. Just as it was in the late 1890s, today's developers and property owners often find themselves trapped in expensive litigation that consumes the very value the land was meant to provide.
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