Hagman

In this boundary dispute, one neighbor seeks to quiet title by adverse possession to an adjoining piece of his neighbor’s land that he inadvertently fenced in and later improved. The unusual twist is that the neighboring land on which the adverse possession took place belongs to a nonprofit religious organization. We hold that a nonprofit religious organization’s status as a “public benefit corporation” does not make it a “public entity” immune from adverse possession under Civil Code section 1007. We further hold that a nonprofit religious organization’s “welfare exemption” from property taxes (see Rev. & Tax. Code, § 214) means that no such taxes were “levied and assessed” on the property during the years it qualified for the exemption. Under the plain and binding language of Code of Civil Procedure section 325, the adverse possessor is consequently excused from the usual requirement that he pay taxes on the disputed land for five years. (Id,., subd. (b).)

*86 FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Larry Hagman or his trust (Hagman) owns a 30-acre parcel of land in Ojai, California. In 1987, one of the fences marking the boundary of his property was built in the wrong place.…