A Retiree in the US Wants Her Land Back. The Church Built on It Says 20 Years Makes It Theirs

• US-based retiree Gloria Campbell is suing Bog Walk Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Catherine
• She says the church has encroached on 71.11 square metres of her land for more than 20 years
• The church claims ownership of the strip through adverse possession
• The case is before the Supreme Court, with a hearing set for November 2025

A retiree living in the United States has taken a St Catherine congregation to court over a strip of land she says the church built on without permission. Gloria Campbell is suing Bog Walk Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bybrook, and the church is fighting back by claiming the land has become its own through long occupation, the Gleaner reported in April 2025.

The disputed area is small, 71.11 square metres, but the principle is significant. Campbell says the church has encroached on her property for more than 20 years and that neither she, her late husband nor anyone acting for them ever gave it permission. The Observer, which first reported the dispute in January 2025, said a surveyor’s report documents the encroachment, that the church had put up a permanent structure on part of the land and was erecting a concrete wall, and that the widow intends to develop the property for housing. After several lawyers’ letters, a notice to quit dated August 10, 2024 gave the church until September 30 to leave. The civil claim was filed in October 2024.

In its defence, the church, represented by first elder Phillip Dormer and the firm Stewart-Harrisingh, Williams and Rhoden, says it has acquired possessory rights through adverse possession. “The defendant notes that the Campbells had made no objection to the encroachment when the building was being built,” its defence states. Campbell’s attorney is Clayton Lawrence.

The first hearing took place in the Supreme Court on March 19, 2025, with the next date set for November 12, 2025. The church, according to its Facebook page as cited by the Observer, was founded in the 1950s.

This is the scenario many overseas Jamaicans fear: land left at home for years, only to discover a neighbour, in this case a church, has built on part of it and now claims the law is on its side. Under adverse possession, long, open and unchallenged occupation can extinguish an owner’s rights. For the diaspora and returning residents, the lessons are practical: have land surveyed and boundaries marked, visit or send someone regularly, object in writing as soon as an encroachment starts, and keep property taxes and titles current. For churches, it is a reminder that building beyond a boundary, even in good faith, can lead to years of costly litigation.

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