A Burnet man filed a lawsuit in a local district court back in 2017, accusing another man of illegally “land-grabbing” property along the banks of the Llano River. The lawsuit simmered for years but soon may come to boil since Judge Evan Stubbs, who presides over the 424th Judicial District Court in Llano, will consider a motion filed by the plaintiff.
“We are asking that the Court sign a final summary judgment against Defendant Joe Johnson declaring the deed at issue as void and unenforceable as a matter of law,” said Michael J. Kuykendall with the Marble Falls law firm that represents the plaintiff Efrain Aviles Sr., in an email on Tuesday. “Our argument for that is set out in detail in the Traditional Motion for Summary Judgment, which is set to be heard on Thursday.”
In June of 2017, Aviles and his family purchased multiple lots in the Royal Oaks Estates in Kingsland not knowing that in 2014, Joe Johnson—the defendant—had been deeded 51 acres of waterfront land that Aviles thought was his.
“We’re not rich, but through hard work me and my family have been able to buy property along the Llano River,” said Aviles, a 2001 graduate of Llano High School and the owner of a tree service business. He spoke with the News this week about the lawsuit that was filed on Oct. 24, 2017.
One day, he noticed on his deed that more than 50 acres was owned by a stranger.
“On our deed it says that we have rights of ingress and egress to the banks of the river, so I called the clerk’s office,” Aviles said. “It was a land grab. He’s been paying taxes on those 50 acres—about $1,500—while I’m paying thousands of dollars more than that for my house alone. I just want him to do the right thing and take that acreage off because he doesn’t own it.”
Additionally, Aviles said that he thinks that around 50 other area landowners could be in similar situations.
“A lot of these people are retired, on a budget and can’t afford to fight people like Joe Johnson,” he said. “It’s important to me that my kids and my kids’ kids, be able to enjoy the property.”
TWO SIDES
Johnson’s attorney has filed a response that denied the claim and a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, among other court filings.
“They are arguing to the court that there is ‘no genuine issue of material fact’ regarding their claim that Mr. Johnson’s warranty deed giving him title to the property between the platted subdivision’s western boundary and the gradient boundary of the Llano River should be declared void,” said Llano attorney Nina Sanchez Willis, who provided a statement for the News this week. “However, Mr. Johnson has been paying ad valorem taxes on that property for years. So, the appraisal district does recognize his ownership. Aviles’s deed is a special warranty deed only.”
Willis told the News that Aviles is “patently wrong.”
“The plat speaks for itself, between the survey and the field notes,” she said. “I would think that since the Llano County Appraisal District has been appraising Mr. Johnson’s property as riverfront property, then LCAD surely hasn’t appraised the western lots of the River Oaks Subdivision as riverfront. Mr. Aviles is trying to set aside a deed that if voided out, will affect the tax appraisal of all the western boundary lots. And those owners were not made parties to this suit. However, they will be adversely affected.”
The News will continue to follow this case.
