A suit appropriate to the occasion must be brought by the adverse claimant, and in that suit each party is deemed an actor and must show his own title, for the suit is 'in aid of the land department.' If neither establishes the requisite title the judgment must so declare.
When in § 2326, Rev. Stat., Congress authorized that which is familiarly known in the mining regions as an 'adverse suit,' it simply declared that the adverse claimant should commence proceedings 'in a court of competent jurisdiction.' It did not in express language prescribe either a Federal or a state court, and did not provide for exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction.
Section 24(26) confers jurisdiction on the District Courts in suits of interpleader or in the nature of interpleader, by plaintiffs who are under an obligation to the amount of $500 or more, the benefits of which are demanded by two or more adverse claimants who are citizens of different states.
Its own impact assessment says that the closure of the fund will have an "adverse effect" on claimants.
Between October 2012 and December 2013 the number of lower-level adverse decisions for JSA claimants were 550,033, a further 388,324 were intermediate and just under 90,000 were the most serious sanctions.
The number of employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants subject to adverse decisions is also steadily rising, albeit at much lower levels.
The first sign of the impact of a tougher benefit sanctions regime has emerged with the publication of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics showing that nearly 600,000 jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants have had adverse benefit sanctions taken against them in the eight months to June.
Since the new regime was introduced, more than 120,000 of those JSA claimants subject to an adverse decision were classified as disabled.
In total, 870,793 claimants were subject to an adverse decision to lose their benefit in 2013 because of a failure to meet Jobcentre Plus requirements to make themselves available for work.
"There's no question claims costs are driven by the adverse experience of a small percentage" of claimants, said Charles E. Soule, retired CEO of Paul Revere Life Insurance Co., one of three firms that merged in the late 1990s to form UnumProvident, and author of the definitive textbook on disability insurance.
For the 10-year periods that started after 1998 the element of hostility now requires a reasonable belief that the claimant has title to the property and adverse possession cannot be established through an intentional trespass onto another's land.
