The trail camera footage, the sign thefts, the lock destructions, the soybean field damage, Diane's Facebook posts, the HOA letterhead threats, the county prescriptive easement petition, every document, every timestamp, every photograph. Jim spent 45 minutes reading without saying a word. When he finished, he leaned back in his chair, laced his fingers behind his head, and said, "Nate, how attached is this woman to her Escalade?" "Why?" "Because by the time we're done, she might be driving a bus."
Here's what Jim found when he pulled the records. First, the deed. My grandfather purchased the property in 1961. The road was referenced in a 1968 survey as "Private Farm Access Road—Caldwell, unpaved, approximately 1,320 feet north-south". Continuously listed as a private improvement on every tax filing since.
No easement, no right-of-way, not ever. Second, the developer records. When Garrett Stanton Communities purchased the 80 acres in 2018, they signed a boundary acknowledgement covenant that stated, "Developer acknowledges that the Caldwell parcel survey abstract 214 contains private improvements, including an unpaved access road, and that no easement or access right across said parcel is created, implied, or intended by this development." The developer had looked at my road and explicitly said, "Not ours. Not included."
"Hands off." Third, the prescriptive easement petition. Jim reviewed the filing and called it the legal equivalent of a parking ticket written by someone who isn't a cop. For a prescriptive easement to hold in Texas, the use must be open, notorious, continuous, hostile, exclusive, and uninterrupted for a minimum of 10 years. Diane's petition claimed less than 2 years of use.
The use had been actively opposed from the beginning through posted signs, physical barriers, and verbal warnings. And the use wasn't hostile in the legal sense. It was invited by Diane's Facebook posts, which meant it was permissive within the HOA community, which paradoxically defeated the hostile use requirement. The petition wasn't just weak, it was self-defeating. Her own posts proved that the use was organized by the HOA, not organic.
Jim said she literally advertised it. A prescriptive easement requires that the use happen against the owner's wishes and without organized permission from a third party. She's torpedoed her own claim. Fourth, the HOA's authority. The CC&Rs limited the HOA's jurisdiction to the platted lots and common areas within Ridgewood Estates.
My property was outside that boundary. The HOA had zero authority over my land. The threatening letter wasn't just wrong. It was an unauthorized act performed under color of office. That letter alone, Jim said, is enough for a harassment claim.
Combined with the sign theft, the lock destruction, the crop damage, and the boyfriend with the angle grinder. We've got criminal trespass, criminal mischief, tortious interference with property rights, and civil conspiracy between Diane and anyone she directed to enter your property. He closed the folder. "Nate, you don't just have a defense, you have a case. And when we file it, she's going to wish she'd taken Ridgewood Drive."