A company which owns a 91 percent interest in a valuable Tombstone commercial property has asked a Cochise County judge to declare the remaining interest abandoned because the minority owner’s estate was formally closed more than one year ago without distributing the asset.
Lewis Tombstone Properties, LLC. already owns 17/18th interest in Lot 5 Block 4 along historic Allen Street. The company is controlled by relatives of Mary Maddalena Lewis, who died in 2018.
According to the Feb. 13 complaint, Lewis Tombstone Properties is seeking judgment of quiet title which would give it ownership of the final 1/18th interest in the lot currently deeded in the name of John N. Costello. The lot has been owned by members of the Lewis – Costello family for nearly 90 years and was last appraised at $295,000.
The complaint stated that in 2015, the company offered Costello more than $16,000 for his minority interest. But he died before the sale could be completed.
One of Costello’s six sons served as executor of the estate, and was purportedly informed several times that Lewis Tombstone Properties desired to buy the estate’s interest in the lot.
However, a final distribution of Costello’s assets filed in Los Angeles (California) County Court in January 2019 closed the estate without reference to the Lot 5 Block 4 property. Nor has a new deed been filed with the Cochise County Recorder’s Office indicating a new owner.
The company contends Costello’s 1/18th interest has been abandoned and therefore court intervention is necessary to resolve the ownership issue.
“Plaintiff desires to realize the full value of the Property and cannot do so while one-eighteenth of the Property is abandoned and not held by any living party,” the complaint reads.
Lewis Tombstone Properties also contends it is entitled to quiet title under Arizona’s adverse possession statute, and that any Costello heirs wishing to claim an interest in the property should “show cause why such interest has not been abandoned or title should not be quieted in favor of Plaintiff.”
In the alternative, the company would accept a court ordered partition -or forced sale- of the property, with the proceeds split based on the percent of ownership interest.
The dispute over the lot’s ownership has been assigned to Judge Timothy Dickerson of the Cochise County Superior Court. Once Costello’s estate and his sons are formally served with the complaint, they will have 30 days to file an answer with the judge.