A Spokane developer razed a neighbor’s fence, pet cemetery and memorial tree. A Washington appeals court just said the land was never his to touch.
In a decision handed down on April 16, 2026, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division Three, ruled that a Spokane County homeowner had quietly won title to a disputed strip of land years before a developer clearcut it, reversing a lower court and reinstating claims that could prove costly for the buyer who ignored every warning sign.
The story begins in 2006, when Robert Sydow built a fence to mark the northern edge of roughly two acres he expected to receive from a family-run company, Medar Properties Washington LLC. The enclosed ground was more than landscape. It held family memorials, a pet cemetery, and trees where Sydow’s mother’s ashes were later spread. His sister had even built a perch in one tree to watch golfers…