Property Dispute Resolved With Chainsaw

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According to his attorney, Mark Besemann “knew there was some sort of dispute over the exact property line” when he bought an acre of land in Itasca, Minnesota, on April 18, 2013. His neighbor, Roger Weber, claimed the exact property line ran through the middle of a garage, and he resolved that dispute beginning four days after the sale by cutting the garage in half with a chainsaw.

Well, this didn’t actually resolve the dispute, it just resolved half of the garage. After some discussion, Besemann sued Weber, claiming he had acquired the right to all the land under the garage, not just the half-garage he had left. The case was supposed to go to trial last week but that was postponed to December at Weber’s request, according to reports.

Seems likely that’s because Weber is running for a seat in the Minnesota House, and would prefer to have the trial after the November election, but I’m just speculating. For all I know, he’s planning to embrace the incident and work it into his campaign—I’m thinking something like: “Roger Weber—Not Afraid to Draw the Line” or “Willing to Make the Tough Cuts.”

The Democratic incumbent probably could come up with some good lines of her own, but so far she has declined to comment. As this report suggests, that could be because she beat Weber 71-29% in the 2012 election, and does not see the need for any help in the rematch. (Update: she didn’t need any help.)

The lawsuit seeks $20,000 in property damage, $20,000 in punitive damages, and some amount of additional land as a “buffer zone.”