Land issues piling up on Branson’s lakefront

Buying, leasing and maintaining land on the lakefront in and near downtown Branson has proven to be problematic for dozens of people.

Until September 2014, Branson Landing developer HCW Development Co. couldn’t move forward with plans for a new retail center north of Belk’s department store because a long-standing title fight made it a risky proposition, even on city-owned property.

Now, title issues are emerging on the other side of Lake Taneycomo where business owners and residents on 35 parcels have learned that Joplin-based Empire District Electric Co. (NYSE: EDE) owns more land than many thought.

And that old case that stymied HCW’s development plans – it is still alive.

35 parcels
Jerry and Marlana Harwell, owners of Tanglewood Lodge at 403 Valencia Road, about a mile northeast of Branson Landing, are wondering about the status of their long-held property.

Reached in Florida, where they’ve parked their RV for the off-season, Jerry Harwell said they would have a lot to sort through upon their return in mid-March. Flooding after Christmas damaged eight lower-level rooms at the 17-room resort. They made a trip back in January to gut much of the lower half of the two-story lodge. Then there’s this thorny title issue.

In November, Taney County Assessor Chuck Pennel sent out nearly three dozen tax bills with an apology.

“This has been quite an adventure for us concerning 35 properties on Lakeshore Drive,” Pennel wrote. “Because of a judgment over a lawsuit, it has been determined that part or all of these parcels is owned by Empire District Electric.”

Pennel’s plan was to divide the land from the existing properties below the 715-foot elevation line across 19 acres along Lakeshore Drive. Citing the complexity of the issue, Pennel said that task wasn’t completed, and those residents received their normal tax bills.

“My understanding is that you may need to look at getting a lease from Empire to use the property that was thought to be yours,” he wrote Nov. 30.

Harwell, who lives on a separate property adjacent to the lodge, said the news came as a shock.

“I haven’t had any contact with Empire. I haven’t talked with an attorney because we’ve been down here the whole time,” he said.

Marlana Harwell and her parents bought Tanglewood Lodge out of foreclosure 36 years ago, and in 1994 the Harwells acquired it. The ruling appears to grant about 90 percent of the land they thought was theirs to Empire.

“She’s been there since 1980 cleaning rooms,” Harwell said of his wife. “And paying property taxes every year. This is kind of a shocking thing that Empire says they own your land, you know.”  

Reservations at the lodge already have been made for April, so when the couple returns to town, Harwell said they’ll determine their next steps.

Those options may be limited.

In February 2014, Empire District prevailed in a suit brought by Jim and Sue Alkire when the utility company proved it had land rights in the area, below the 715-foot elevation line, dating back to 1912.

In May, the Alkires secured a victory in a case they brought against Lawyers Title Insurance Co. and Gary Smalley, who sold land to the Alkires in 2008 via a trust. Gary Smalley, who died last week, and his wife Norma Jean had a lease agreement with Empire to access the lake, according to court records, but thought they owned more than they did. When they sold their land in 2008, representatives of Lawyers Title overlooked Empire’s land rights dating back more than a century. The circuit court found the title company at fault.

Empire District spokeswoman Julie Maus said the company is looking to work with the landowners to find solutions. One option that is not on the table is giving back the land. Empire is in the middle of a $2.4 billion acquisition with Canadian utility group Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (TXN: AQN). One of the key regulators in charge of approving that deal is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and under FERC rules, Empire can’t convey land to property owners along the lake.

Landing and Coverdell
At the northern end of Branson Landing, the decade-old land dispute continues.

In August 2014, Chicago Title Insurance Co. and its parent company Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) reached a settlement in the title insurance case brought by HCW Development and joined by the city of Branson. Under terms of the agreement, HCW received $1.5 million and a $90 million title insurance policy. The city of Branson also received its own $90 million title policy to cover future legal expenses in a then 11-year-old dispute over a few acres fronting Lake Taneycomo.

HCW, which leases about 95 acres from the city of Branson for the $420 million Branson Landing development, wasn’t able to move forward with its plans to build a new strip center because of the city’s ongoing land dispute with Douglas Coverdell and Coverdell Enterprises Inc.

Both the city and HCW argued in the Chicago Title case they had paid for insurance policies protecting their interests in Branson Landing when development of the retail and entertainment destination began in 2004. According to charges in the case, Chicago Title failed to honor the policies once Coverdell made claims against them.

With Coverdell pursuing an appeal in the separate, ongoing case, HCW CEO Rick Huffman said the company wasn’t going to build until it knew for certain it was insured.

With a victory in hand, Huffman has moved on. The 29,000-square-foot center he wanted to build on the north end of the Branson Landing is complete.

“It was a total nightmare,” he said in late February, pointing to the ongoing case centered on an old land deal between former Judge Peter Rea, disbarred in 1999, and Douglas Coverdell. “And I understand there is still some litigation going on.”

There is.

On Nov. 17, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Southern District of Missouri sent the old case back to Taney County Circuit Court. The appellate court ruled Taney County needed to resolve Coverdell’s claim for adverse possession, which refers to legally obtaining neglected land. In court records, Rea claimed the land had transferred to Coverdell. It is the second time the appeals court has ruled on the case filed in 2003.  

Maus declined on behalf of Empire to answer questions about the Coverdell case. Springfield attorney Jeff Bauer, a shareholder with Strong Garner Bauer PC who represents Coverdell in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the ongoing case.

Branson City Attorney William Duston said on Feb. 26 he wasn’t aware of the 35-parcel title issue and couldn’t speak to it; the properties on the other side of the lake are just beyond city limits. As for the Coverdell suit, Duston said the adverse-possession claim is all that hasn’t been settled.

“How (Douglas Coverdell) is going to claim all of that, I’m not exactly sure because the court didn’t hear all of that in the fact pleading the first time,” Duston said. “I’ll be learning that when everybody else does.”