Wynkoop v. Stratthaus
Annotate this CaseThe parties to this appeal were co-lessees in a thirty-year ground lease for a ten-acre parcel of land owned by Star Meadows Farm, Inc. and located in Walden. The parties constructed improvements on the land and shared the parcel as unmarried cohabitants prior to the events that gave rise to this action. Upon termination of their relationship, plaintiff Karen Wynkoop sought a declaratory judgment to partition the property and compensation for ouster. Defendant Gerard Stratthaus appealed the trial court’s property division and compensation to plaintiff. After review, the Supreme Court affirmed with respect to the determination that partition of the leasehold was authorized by law, that plaintiff should have received credit in determining her share of the value of the property for her services as general contractor of the joint construction project, and that plaintiff was ousted by defendant from the property. The judgment was reversed and remanded for the trial court to correct errors in its final calculation of the percentage share of the value of the property held by each party consistent with this opinion and is remanded for the court to determine the value of the property and the appropriate partition remedy.
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