5.7 acres in Aquinnah, a Kennedy donation, a Wampanoag ancestor all part of court case

Rachael Devaney Cape Cod Times 

Published April 21, 2022 

MARTHA'S VINEYARD—A local family will go to court Friday over its continuing fight over a piece of land in Aquinnah which the Kennedy family donated to Vineyard Conservation Society in 2013. 

Tanisha Gomes and her family say they are the rightful owners of that 5.7-acre property.

They are challenging the Society's motion for summary judgment which asks a judge to throw out the case.

In 2017, Gomes received a letter from Fidelity National Law Group, a firm that represents Vineyard Conservation Society, Inc., to inform her and 19 members of her family about title problems with the land. 

The letter informed Gomes and her relatives that a lawsuit was filed with Dukes County Superior Court against the family, who are considered heirs of Louisa Pocknett. Pocknett is described in the complaint as the former owner of the property. Pocknett died on Aug. 29, 1874 and was a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.  

The family members were asked to sign an agreement to verify they had no right, title or interest in Lot 240, which was indicated on a plan entitled "Plan of Gay Head."

After further research, Gomes and her family found that Lot 240 remains in Pocknett's name on the town of Aquinnah's assessor's website, and objected to the lawsuit due to discrepancies surrounding incomplete deeds for Lot 240.

More:Caroline Kennedy, husband give land for conservation

After a series of court postponements since 2017, the family will now appear in Dukes County Superior Court in Edgartown, where a judge will hear the motion for summary judgment.

"We are going on our sixth year battling for the title," Gomes said in a phone interview. "At the summary judgment, either of us could win or we go to trial. But there needs to be no disputable facts for a conclusion to be found. Because that's not the case, the only step really is to go to trial."

In addition, court documents show that Fidelity National Title Insurance, which will also represent Vineyard Conservation Society in court, recently introduced a deed from 1945 to its proposed chain of title to try and decide the case.

Troy Small, a defendant in the case, and Gomes' cousin, said his family is questioning the validity of that new deed because it was only presented by opposing counsel in 2021.

More:Supreme Court move ends land dispute

"That (deed) was just brought up last year. The plaintiff's own expert witnesses never even mentioned or used this new deed in any of their affidavits in their chain of title to claim ownership for the Vineyard Conservation Society, including in the summary judgment," Small said.

Neither Fidelity National Law Group nor Fidelity National Title Insurance returned calls to the Times for comment.

Gomes said Lot 240, or "Kennedy 240," which it is commonly called, is a parcel of land that was included in a 2013 gift deed between the Kennedy family and Vineyard Conservation Society.

According to gift deed documents provided by Gomes, the Kennedy family, through its Red Gate Farm LLC, donated 30 acres of its Aquinnah property to the Vineyard Conservation Society. The land, which was valued at $3.7 million, was gifted for $10. 

"Title issues are nothing new in Aquinnah for private landowners of the town," Gomes said. "The gift deed shows that most of the lots that were donated had title issues that they didn't bother to clear."

For Gomes, there are too many disputable facts to rule for a summary judgment, and she is hoping for a jury trial.

"Fidelity Title Insurance did not do their due diligence, meaning they did not make any effort to ensure the titles were clear," Gomes said. "We are just looking for a fair process and to be heard."

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