Second Department Joins Third and Fourth Departments in Deciding That Revised Adverse Possession Laws Are Not Applied Retroactively

In Hogan v. Kelly, the Second Department decided that the 2008 changes to the Real Property and Procedure Law affecting adverse possession claims are not to be applied retroactively so that compliance with the old laws prior to 2008 will give rise to a claim for adverse possession. In this case, because the law before 2008 did not require a possessor to believe that he owned the property possessed, that the defendants knew the property not be theirs did not defeat their claim.