Alley at center of dispute

Surveying work is to be completed behind several buildings on East Depot Street to determine ownership of an alley following the city being brought into a lawsuit between downtown property owners.

William P. Cooper, James H.S. Cooper and John N.P. Cooper have filed suit in Bedford County Chancery Court against the city and property owners Harry Woosley III, Elizabeth Rodgers and Edward Woosley, doing business as DHC Properties LP, R&B Rental, and Ronald R. and Donald R. Stacey.

R&B Rental runs the Capri Theater, the Staceys are the owners of 50s and Fiddles while DHC Properties owns the vacant building that once housed Lewis and Clifford Furniture Co.

The suit is being handled for the city by Mary Ferrara of the Nashville law firm of Farrar & Bates, L.L.P.

City attorney Ginger Shofner explained that apparently, there was public access to the alley behind the buildings on East Depot and the Coopers own the empty, grassy lot behind that. The area in dispute is the alley, and the Coopers want a judge to declare that it is either public property or to declare it all belonging to the Coopers by prescriptive easement.

Ferrara suggested during an attorney/client meeting with the city council earlier this week that the area be surveyed so that the exact property lines could be determined.

Alley claims

The Coopers claim in the suit that the properties were plotted in the current configuration at or near the turn of the 20th century, and that the alley separated the properties from the other land owners.

They also claim that they have used the tract as a parking lot and that "the Coopers collected fees for the rights to park on their property from local business owners since 1968."

However, the Coopers assert that the Staceys have blocked the alley by parking their business van at the entrance to the alley from Jefferson Street, placed a heating and air unit in the alley and built a structure over a portion of the alley, placing Dumpsters there as well.

The Coopers are claiming that the alley and other properties were once part of the same tract, and "that at some time the owner of the entire property divided the property into at least the portions identified..." with the small strip of land, the alley, between them.

The suit also stated that the Coopers have no knowledge whether the alley was ever dedicated to public use, but to the best of their knowledge, it has always been treated as a private alley for the benefit of adjoining property owners, and the Coopers are asking a judge to enter an order declaring this.

But if the judge finds that the property is a public alley, they want the court to find that the city's easement has been abandoned and that it is a private prescriptive easement belonging to the adjoining land owners.

Asks for damages

The Coopers wish to show that the city has failed to maintain the alley and has not protected the easement and are also asking for damages from the Staceys, asking a judge to find them guilty of the civil offense of trespass, claiming that they have trespassed on both the Cooper property "and on the private alley without permission resulting in damages to the Coopers."

If the alley is determined to be privately owned by the adjoining property owners, the Coopers want the Staceys found guilty of trespassing as well for parking and building on the land.

The Coopers are asking the court to award all costs and reasonable attorney fees, plus awarding "such other further relief as the equities of this cause require and justice demands."

Attorney Jason R. Reeves of Shelbyville is representing the Coopers in the suit.