PRINTBoone County v. John H. Redden
November 16, 2006 | 12:00 a.m. CST
The girth
Two years of legal pileup and less than a mile of gravel road equals a case file more than 7 inches thick.
Related ArticlesThe gist
John Redden is not one to back down from a battle. He says he’s not scared to fight for what’s his, even if the odds are stacked against him.
What started as a simple property dispute has now escalated into a courtroom drama. At stake is the ownership of Howard Redden Road, a gravel thoroughfare less than a mile long on the southeast side of Columbia. John Howard Redden’s namesake, the road is a driveway he built with his own hands and money in 1962. But after two years of litigation with the county, it might not be his road much longer.
Redden says that when he built the driveway, he was the only resident using it. Over time, however, more people built homes and began sharing the driveway. A large influx of residents started using the road after the development of the Fox Trot subdivision. More houses meant more residents dependent on Redden Road for access to the main street. Redden says he didn’t mind when a couple of neighbors shared the road, but the subdivision traffic was just too much.
Boone County claims that it has “maintained” Redden Road for at least 10 years, spraying for dust and leveling rocks.
“There are statutes that state when public money is spent over a certain period of time to maintain a road, the road legally becomes public property,” says Karen Miller, District I Commissioner, referring to section 228.190 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. “The county has an interest in the road because of the funds invested in it.”
For Redden, who stands to lose ownership of property that has been his for more than four decades, citing chapter and verse doesn’t make things any easier. “I’m the only reason that road was built,” he says. “It dead ends in my front yard.”
The fight went to court on Sept. 23, 2004, when the county filed suit against 24 people residing on Redden Road. County officials asked the courts to declare the road a public thoroughfare. Only three people disputed the county’s claim to the road, and Redden is the primary defendant remaining in the case. He disagrees with the county’s claim because it did not help build the road or contribute financially to its construction.
John Patton, the county’s chief council, says he has no doubt that Redden helped maintain and build a section of an existing road, parts of which date back to 1875, that became Howard Redden Road. Redden says he knows of the old road, but argues that it’s different from the road he built.
Missouri law says the road no longer belongs to Redden. “If you let the government spend money to maintain a road and allow the public to use that road for 10 years, it is a public road,” Patton says. “The county has an interest in maintaining the safety of the road. After the public has used the road for 10 years, the county needs to be able to do that.”
Redden’s lawyer, John Browning, declined to comment on the case.
The stakes
“I built it, paid for it and maintained it,” Redden says of his driveway. “I did everything.”
In addition to his own time and labor, Redden spent $2,000 in equipment and materials to build the road. The county has offered him no compensation.
“They are out to steal what I have worked my whole life to get,” Redden says. “I have nowhere to go for justice.”
The status
Twice in court, the judge ordered all the parties to meet and work at reaching an amicable end to the case. MU’s Dispute Resolution Center has twice tried to mediate a settlement of the litigation, hoping to end the long-running conflict. With no solution in sight, however, it will likely take a court ruling to end the stalemate and halt a lawsuit that is costing everyone money. Redden is hoping that the judge will rule that his driveway ought to be a road less traveled.
