A Century of Title Confusion
A high-stakes legal battle begins to untangle property deeds in a neighborhood whose identity was lost in a clerical error.
A general suit to quiet title to the Union addition to Seattle, involving property valued at $250,000, was begun in the superior court yesterday by the heirs of William Renton. In 1860 John Buckley died and his heirs deeded this property to William Renton. It is claimed that in making out the deeds, the property was wrongfully described as Ward's addition, although it was never platted under that name. In later years, when the property was platted and became known as the Union addition, the Renton heirs began suit at two different times to quiet title, upon which they felt a shadow had been cast. Each time, through errors alleged to have been made by the commissioners, the title became more tangled than ever. The new suit is now brought to have one final adjudication of all rights.
“The title became more tangled than ever.”
Property ownership in early Seattle was often a chaotic mess of overlapping claims and 'shadows' on titles. This struggle for legal certainty mirrors modern disputes over historical land use and zoning in a rapidly developing city.
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