Ulvestad and Hammonds will not receive the $148,500 they had earlier been awarded (Representational AI photo)
The decision is a setback for neighbours Vicky Jo Ulvestad and Lawrence Craig Hammonds, who had earlier won $148,500 after accusing the trust of entering their land without permission. Ulvestad and Hammonds own a piece of land known as Lot 3, while the Blackwood Trust owns the neighbouring Lots 4 and 5. Both sides disagreed over whether Lot 4 reached the lake or whether a portion of Lot 3 stood in its way. After the 2010 survey, the trust built a cabin on its property. The disagreement eventually became a legal battle in 2017. The trust initially asked the court for permission to cross Lot 3 to reach the lake. It accepted their understanding of where the property boundary lay and decided that Lot 4 did not have direct access to Prairie Lake. A jury awarded them $49,400, and the court later increased the amount to $148,500. In December 2024, the Minnesota Court of Appeals found that an important piece of evidence had not been properly considered. It was an old government map from 1870 showing how the land around Prairie Lake had originally been divided.
The neighbours also won their claim that the trust had entered their property without permission.
The disagreement began over where one property ends and the other begin, according to the court judgment . A dispute between neighbours over access to a lake in Minnesota has taken another turn after nearly nine years in court. Louis County. That award has now been cancelled. Over the next few years, trees were removed, and a path was created through an area that the neighbours believed belonged to them. Ulvestad and Hammonds, meanwhile, accused the trust of trespassing and wanted it stopped from entering their land or removing more trees. At first, the court sided with Ulvestad and Hammonds. The appeals court asked the lower court to examine this map before deciding the boundary again. This gave the trust another opportunity to establish that its property reached the water.
On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the Blackwood Trust, confirming that its property has direct access to Prairie Lake in St.