If the Kirlins had put a fraction of the effort they are exerting now into stopping the adverse possession for over 20 years, they wouldn’t be in this fix. Now it is much ado about nothing.
Here is where I think it becomes clear why you see this so differently than most of the rest of us. You are a lawyer. Even if "adverse possession" law is not your realm of specialty, you certainly are aware of it, have studied it in law school, and must know of the dangers it poses to unsuspecting homeowners.
And I think this makes you blind to what the rest of us are seeing, namely that the Kirlins, who can't be reasonably expected to know anything more about arcane 15th century laws than any of us other non-lawyers do, seem to the rest of us to be 100% conscientious property owners who did everything the city told them (weeds), everything the HOA told them (fence maintenance), everything the county told them (pay property taxes), and so on. And as their reward, they've been screwed out of their property by a lawyer couple who DO know all about 15th century laws that can be used to grab their land.
It would have been nice if you'd said something like, "This is cetainly a tragedy that's happened to these unsuspecting, conscientious, law-abiding citizens, who weren't aware of this ancient law and its consequences for them. On the positive side, this tragedy can be used educate other homeowners of this mostly invisible snake in the grass law before it bites them fatally."
But no, instead you come across (reading heavily between the lines) as: "What? They didn't know about adverse possession law? Why, doesn't everyone have a law degree like me? Well, this non-lawyer couple sure got what's coming to them! It's their fault they didn't know 15th century property laws like their smart lawyer neighbors did. Serves 'em right!"
And don't come back to me with the old "Ignorance of the law is no excuse". I have a few more things to say along this line. See next post....