Sailmaker’s Son Loses Hassel Island Eviction Case

Rembrandt Dittrich has 60 days to vacate property on Hassel Island where his father lived and worked for 60 years, V.I. District Court Chief Judge Robert Molloy ruled on Tuesday.

Dittrich, son of the late Manfred Dittrich, a beloved sailmaker who lived on the island from 1956 until his death in June 2016, said the 4.96-acre parcel where his father ran his business and raised his family was now his, claimed under the legal principle of “adverse possession,” and the property should go to his heirs, according to documents filed in the case.

However, Molloy ruled Tuesday that any claim to adverse possession was negated by the fact that Manfred Dittrich signed a special use permit with the National Park Service when it acquired about 95 percent of Hassel Island from the Paiewonsky family in 1982.

While Rembrandt Dittrich claimed the permit was akin to a business license, not a rental or lease payment, Molloy disputed the logic of that argument, asking why anyone would pay the federal government for permission to operate a business on their own property.

Moreover, under V.I. Code Manfred Dittrich would have had to make a claim for adverse possession within 20 years of occupying the land, and prior to the NPS acquiring the warranty deed, and there is absolutely no record that he did so, Molloy said.

Instead, Manfred Dittrich paid $200 a month to the NPS for 32 ½ years under a special use permit that clearly stated it was not transferable without the permission of the park service, Molloy said.

Peter Lynch, Rembrandt Dittrich’s attorney, said Manfred Dittrich signed the permit and paid the monthly fee only to avoid a confrontation.

Anyone who knew Manfred Dittrich knew “he was a dealmaker rather than a confrontational person,” said Lynch. Further, he said, regardless of what happened after 1982 and the special use permit, the property was already subject to an equitable interest by the Dittrich family.