Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts

trespassing and trespassing with a dirt bike

For 22 yrs we have been going down behind our home onto land that is owned by the locks & canals & the water company people go there to ride bikes, dirt bikes and swim. Last week my son & his friend were told that they could go there (by an officer who stopped them) but to push their dirt bike on the tar part of the road. They were also told by someone with a water company truck that it was ok for them to be there. This past week they were sitting down there with the dirt bike and two officers came &sent other people away but said that my son & his friend would receive a summons in the mail for trespassing. The officer came to my home shortly after the boys returned & started holloring at them & calling them liars &telling my son what he would do to him if he ever saw him down there again. I feel that if these officers were going to cite people that they should have cited all not just pick a few. Is there any thing we can do regarding this or should we just keep quite & pay the fines..the officer said the find would be great probably about $500.I was also under the impression that if they were to be cited that the officer needed to give this to them right there and have them sign something (they are of age).


Asked on 7/21/99, 6:34 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Stuart Williams

Re: trespassing and trespassing with a dirt bike

I invite you to call me. (617) 527-0050. Or write with answers to the few questions I had in my last response.

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Answered on 8/01/99, 1:30 pm
Stuart Williams

Re: trespassing / trespassing with a dirt bike

First, 22 years is enough for you to have "earned" prescriptive easement, i.e., a legal right to go there. It's possible. You could end up on the deed for that property and yours. What city or town are you in? What's the address? I may be able to research it for you. More likely, I could refer to you an attorney who knows the particular area of law well enough and is near to you. (Most attorneys would bungle prescriptive easement or adverse possession cases, in my opinion; you need the specialist.)

But if there's still not stopping you, you probably don't need to do anything YET, do you?

The policeman giving permission and especially the water dept. giving permission doesn't help your case; it could even hurt it, believe it or not. Keep your lips sealed until you have specific legal advice on how much to say and to whom.

I don't believe that an officer needs to write up the citations on the spot. Nor is an officer required to arrest everyone else who did the same thing. However, the rude, abusive and menacing behaviour should probably be reported to a top supervisor at the police station. They usually care.

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Answered on 7/22/99, 4:08 pm


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