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MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Neighbors of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Montgomery County residence have filed a federal lawsuit against the governor, his wife, and Pennsylvania State Police, accusing them of unlawfully claiming ownership of the neighbors’ property.
The lawsuit was filed Monday by a husband and wife who share a common property boundary with the governor’s Abington residence and centers around a shared property line.
A spokesperson for Shapiro blasted the filing as a “shameless political stunt,” while the couple who filed the suit called the governor’s actions an “outrageous abuse of power.”
The suit says the Shapiros met with the neighbors in early July of 2025 because the Shapiros were requesting that an 8-foot security fence be built on the shared property line. Millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on security efforts at the governor’s homes after his Harrisburg residence was fire-bombed on April 13, 2025.
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The neighbors said they received an email from the Shapiros on July 15, 2025, where the Shapiros said they’d be interested in purchasing part of the neighbors’ land that contained the shared property line. But the two parties couldn’t come to an agreement on a price, so they talked instead about leasing that part of the neighbors’ property to the Shapiros.
However, after weeks of negotiations, the parties failed to reach a lease agreement.
The suit claims that the neighbors were contacted by Shapiro’s counsel around Aug. 29, at which point the counsel said the Shapiros would be taking “alternative actions” to obtain that portion of the neighbors’ property.
What followed was an outrageous abuse of power by the sitting Governor of Pennsylvania and its former Attorney General.
The lawsuit claims that the Shapiros “suddenly claimed, without evidence” that they owned the neighbors’ property through “adverse possession,” despite never have been awarded the neighbors’ property by a court.
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute defines adverse possession as “a doctrine under which a trespasser, in physical possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to the property.” Click here to read more.
From that point on, the suit says, the Shapiros have allegedly treated the property as their own, planting large trees and other plants on the property, flying drones over the area, threatening to remove healthy trees and allegedly “chasing away” the neighbors’ arborist and surveyor.
The suit also claims that Gov. Shapiro personally directed members of the Pennsylvania State Police to patrol that part of the neighbors’ property.
“On multiple occasions, when the [neighbors] have attempted to use their property, the State Police have insisted the area was ‘disputed’ and told them to immediately exit their property,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit included the following photo of troopers on the property, standing in front of trees the governor allegedly had planted:
A photo included in the lawsuit filed Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, against Gov. Josh Shapiro and his wife Lori, shows two Pennsylvania State Police troopers standing on the disputed property. CBS 21 has covered the troopers’ faces for privacy reasons.{ }
At the time, the neighbors were reportedly in the process of installing a fence along their property line with another homeowner. But the suit claims they were forced by state troopers to pause construction on the fence, being told the fence contractors were approaching a “disputed area” in the “security zone.”
The neighbors were told they would have to get permission from either state police or the Shapiros to enter onto that part of their property.
The suit asserts that the property belongs to the neighbors, not the Shapiros.
“Not only did they offer to purchase the and then lease the property,” the suit reads, “a survey the Shapiros obtained from Hoover Engineering showed that the property was part of the [neighbors’ property], the Montgomery County tax assessment map clearly indicates that the area is part of the [neighbors’ property], and the Shapiros represented to the Abington Township Zoning Board that the so-called ‘security zone’ that the Shapiros now claim they own by ‘adverse possession’ was owned by none other than the [neighbors].”
The neighbors said they have repeatedly asked the Shapiros to get off their land, but the Shapiros have reportedly refused.
The suit claims the neighbors’ Fourteenth, Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights were violated. The filing asks the court to issue a permanent injunction preventing the Shapiros and representatives from occupying the neighbors’ land, along with seeking damages.
A statement from the Governor’s communications director, along with a Notice to Defend filed Monday, paints a different picture of what happened.
The spokesperson said that following the April 13, 2025, arson attack on the governor’s Harrisburg residence, Pennsylvania State Police conducted a security review and made several recommendations for additional security measures at the Shapiros’ Abington home.
According to Monday’s filing, the Shapiros had their property surveyed by a licensed professional in the summer of 2025, which revealed that around 2,900 square feet of land, which the Shapiros have “exclusively possessed and occupied” since May of 2003, “fell outside the metes and bounds description contained in [Shapiros’] deed and within the metes and bounds description contained in [neighbors’] deed.”
The filing claims that the Shapiros have been caring for the disputed area since May of 2003 by mowing the lawn, planting trees and bushes, clearing leaves and installing an electric dog fence. The neighbors reportedly never voiced any objection to the Shapiros use of the property until October of 2025.
“While working to make those security improvements, the zoning process revealed a personal property discrepancy indicating that the fence line that has existed for more than 23 years did not exactly match the map on file with the township,” a Shapiro spokesperson wrote to CBS 21 Monday. “The Shapiros reached out to their neighbors in good faith and repeatedly attempted to resolve the matter amicably. Unfortunately, the neighbors were unwilling to reach a fair resolution and have proceeded to harass and threaten the Shapiro family as they push an ownership claim over a small piece of the Shapiros’ backyard – a small sliver of property those same neighbors never attempted to claim or control during their first eight years of living next door.”
Because the disputed property was not included in the Shapiros’ deed, the Shapiros were unable to get a permit to erect a new fence along the shared property line.
The Shapiros reportedly reached out to the neighbors to let them know, but the neighbors allegedly said they have always believed that area to belong to the Shapiros, according to the responsive filing.
“Prior to learning of this discovery, [neighbors] never claimed, possessed or exercised any rights over the Disputed Area,” the filing reads.
Parties were unable to reach an agreement about a sale or lease of the property.
Both parties’ legal counsel then notified each other, each claiming ownership of the property, and a dispute continued over the removal of a tulip poplar tree in the disputed area. The Shapiros denied the neighbors’ arborist access to the dispute area, and they also denied the neighbors’ efforts to build a fence, which would’ve allegedly encompassed the disputed area.
In a statement to CBS 21, Shapiro’s team blasted the neighbors’ lawyer and their lawsuit, calling it a “shameless political stunt and attempt to exploit the Shapiros’ legitimate security concerns.”
The filing from Shapiro’s team claims that the neighbors are “for the first time” now claiming ownership of the land, “interfering” with the Shapiros “quiet enjoyment of the Disputed Area.”
“Today, the Shapiros were left with no other option but to assert their legal rights in a responsive filing in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas clearly laying out the facts of this matter,” a Shapiro spokesperson wrote. “The Governor looks forward to a swift resolution and will not be bullied by anyone trying to score cheap political points, especially at the expense of his family’s safety and wellbeing.”
Shapiro’s Monday filing asks the judge to declare the Shapiros the legal owners of the disputed area.
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