Former caretakers of remote Jamesburg School sue, obtain title to the property and try to sell it.

After serving a handful of local kids as an elementary school in the 1980s, outer Cachagua’s Jamesburg School transformed into a community center and site for adult classes like dancing and pottery. That’s how it functioned until April 22, when locals discovered a new padlock hanging on its gate, accompanied by more than a dozen “no trespassing” signs.

Michelle Prejean, daughter of two Jamesburg School founders, was first to notice the signs as she drove down Tassajara Road. Word quickly spread through the community, followed by a revelation no one saw coming: The former caretakers of the school, who had moved off the property in late 2011, had been awarded legal title to the 11-acre site by way of an unchallenged “adverse possession” suit.

“It totally blindsided all of us,” says Jim McNeely, current president of the Jamesburg School Board.

The land where the Jamesburg School sits was purchased in 1976 by members of the Jamesburg neighborhood, who raised money for a school by putting on plays. Since 1979, title to the land had belonged to the Jamesburg School, Inc., a nonprofit started by the school’s founders.

But as of last October, title to the property has been held by former caretakers Robyn Adcock and Brad Dubin. The couple, while living elsewhere, sued for adverse possession of the land in May 2012. Under California law, if a party occupies a property without permission from its owner for five years of more – and does so without sharing it with the owner – the party can sue for title.

But board members of the Jamesburg School say the couple had permission to live there: They’d been invited. McNeely also says the board never received legal notice of the suit. “It’s been in court for over two years,” McNeely says. “If we’d received those documents, we’d have stopped it in a minute.”

At this point, there might not be time. Adcock and Dubin are trying to sell the property, which is listed at $689,000 by David Lyng Real Estate. David Lyng Carmel Brokerage Manager Jackie Woods says she’s aware of the litigation and has no comment.

When the suit was filed in 2012, former board member Stan Semmel was listed as the person to receive legal notice. Semmel owns adjacent property, and had long been a part of the Jamesburg School community, even paying the school’s property taxes for several years.

According to McNeely, Semmel says he never received legal notice, but wouldn’t sign a document stating so. McNeely adds Semmel was close to Adcock and Dubin, who’d lived on the property as caretakers since 2000 at the invitation of Semmel and others. (A message left for Semmel was not returned.)

“Those two kids were really close to Stan,” McNeely says. “They did all the cooking and cleaning for him.”

On June 16, the Jamesburg School Inc. sued in Monterey Superior Court, asking for the adverse possession judgment to be set aside.

Neither Adcock or Dubin could be reached for comment; a number listed for Adcock “is not receiving calls at this time.” Their attorney did not return repeated calls requesting comment.