WELLFLEET — Chellise Sexton and her son Kevin are known for repeatedly trying to wrest properties away from their current owners using 100-year-old deeds to back their claims. They have succeeded in some cases, but their latest attempt has failed.

Their lawsuit aiming to take 8.6 acres at 324 Old King’s Highway from the Wellfleet Housing Authority has been denied by a state Land Court judge.

Unless an appeal is filed by Jan. 27, the decision puts to rest a challenge from Chellise Sexton of Eastham and Kevin Sexton of Wellfleet, who claimed that the land belonged to their family based on a 1922 deed.

The stakes were high, not just for the town, but for the dozen tenants of an affordable housing complex that was built on the site in 2002 on a road now named Fred Bell Way.

In addition, if the court had agreed with the Sextons and invalidated the easements granted by the town, some homeowners on Delphi Path would have lost access to their properties.

The Sextons sued the town in Land Court in 2017, asking the court to award them title to the land, order the town off the property, invalidate a handful of utility easements, and award them damages for rents and profits connected with the town’s use of the land.

In their complaint, the Sextons went after several entities in addition to the Wellfleet Housing Authority, including the Community Development Partnership, some utility companies, the state (because of the involvement of the Dept. of Housing and Community Development), and even the United States of America, in connection with federal subsidies and affordability restrictions on the housing development.

When Deeds Diverge

The town initially acquired the land listed at 324 Old King’s Highway in 1967, when it took the 8.6-acre lot from Ralph Witcher for failure to pay $96.54 in real estate taxes.

In 1993, residents voted at town meeting to turn the land over to the Wellfleet Housing Authority to be used for affordable housing. After years of planning, the housing authority signed a 60-year lease for the property in 2001 with the Community Development Partnership (CDP), the Orleans-based nonprofit that built the 12 units of affordable housing now on the site. The CDP continues to manage the $1.5 million complex.

The Sextons asserted their claim to the property 15 years after the complex was built.

The Sextons’ lawyer in this case, Albert Schulz of Osterville, argued that the property the town took from Ralph Witcher was not the same as the property where the town and CDP built the housing complex. The land the town owns, the Sextons claimed, was a different parcel whose current owner is listed as the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Title examiners for the town and the Sextons agreed on the chain of ownership for the Old King’s Highway property from 1829 until 1922. At that point, the Sextons argued, the property passed through generations of Cooks to Chellise Sexton, a Cook descendant, in 1985. In 2009, it was recorded on the deed as belonging to Chellise and Kevin Sexton as tenants in common, they claimed.

The trial was divided into two parts. In the first phase, the judge would decide whose deed to the land off Old King’s Highway had the superior claim. If the town’s deed was found to prevail, that would end the matter — and that is what happened on Dec. 28.

If the Sextons had been found to have the stronger claim, a second phase in court would have addressed whether they lost their rights to it because of adverse possession or failure to assert their rights in a timely manner. It would also have addressed whether the Sextons would need to pay for improvements made to the property — including the housing complex.

Six Years to Judgment

After several Covid-related delays, the trial before Mass. Land Court Judge Robert Foster took place in March 2022. Closing arguments were made in late September 2022, and Judge Foster took the matter under advisement. He deliberated for more than a year before issuing his ruling in late December.

In his decision, Foster noted that the property at issue is described using properties owned by abutters as its bounds. The deed used by the Sextons had Covell’s Way and Old King’s Highway as the boundaries on the east and west, which would match the property at issue. But the north and south boundaries were listed as properties owned by Edwin Cook “and others,” that were not directly adjacent to the site.

“In order for the 1922 Deed to convey the locus, it would be necessary to disregard its abutter calls in favor of some description that is not in the deed,” wrote Judge Foster in his decision.

“Abutter calls serve as monuments when interpreting a deed, and monuments control over other forms of description,” Foster continued. “However, these abutter calls manifestly do not describe the conveyed parcel in a manner that is sufficient to locate it on the ground.”

Jay Coburn, executive director of the CDP, made the following statement: “The CDP is very relieved by the Court’s decision, but not nearly as relieved as the 12 families who call the affordable apartments on Fred Bell Way home.”

A History of Sexton Claims

The Sextons have tried to lay claim to other properties in town, causing the owners to spend considerable sums on legal fees. The Paine family eventually won their case following an attempt by Chellise Sexton to wrest ownership of their longtime campground on Old King’s Highway from them. It took 21 years and more than a million dollars in legal fees to fend off her claim, according to Robert Paine.

Joe and Richard Healey and their sister Dorothy Gotreau lost their land at 120 Sapokonish Way, where their family had spent summers since the 1950s. They were notified by the Land Court in 2004 that Chellise Sexton was claiming she owned the property based on old deeds. For the next six years, they fought Sexton in court but ultimately lost the case, along with the cabin built on the property by their father and brother. Gotreau told the Independent in 2022 that she had to turn in a life insurance policy to pay legal expenses. “What we went through was awful,” she told a reporter at that time.

The Sextons built a house at 120 Sapokonish Way in 2012. The town currently values the property at $1.9 million.

In 2003, the Sextons attempted to claim ownership of some undeveloped land at 521 Old King’s Highway owned by Alfred Pickard Jr. After a costly three-year court battle, Pickard won the case and retained ownership of the land.

Two New Subdivisions?

Regarding Judge Foster’s recent decision on Fred Bell Way, Pickard said he was glad the town has prevailed. “I was bewildered how someone could go after land with housing on it,” Pickard said on Monday.

Pickard declined to say more because he is a member of the Wellfleet Planning Board, which recently had a preliminary discussion with Kevin Sexton about two subdivisions he plans to propose for 230 and 270 Old King’s Highway and 538 and 548 Old King’s Highway.

Gerald Parent is chair of the planning board and an abutter of properties owned by the Sextons. He plans to recuse himself when the board considers the two Sexton proposals. Regarding the town’s recent court success against the Sextons, Parent said, “I’m glad it’s settled and everybody can move on, and hopefully it won’t get appealed. I think a lot of the neighbors will be happy as well.”

Elaine McIlroy, chair of the Wellfleet Housing Authority, did not respond to a request for comment.

Chellise Sexton has previously said she will make no comment on any of her family’s lawsuits. Attorney Albert Schulz did not respond to a request for comment.

Kevin Sexton has another case pending in state Land Court, in which he has appealed a 2021 cease-and-desist order issued by Wellfleet’s then building commissioner, Robert Fowler, and the zoning board’s decision to uphold the order. That case is about Sexton’s clearing of a large wooded area on his family’s property in the Cape Cod National Seashore next to Lecount Hollow Beach.

In that case, Sexton’s appeal rests on whether the trees are “timber” — the word used in the town bylaw — or scrub pine with no value, which the Sextons argue is not protected.