Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You say that Higgins' deed cannot determine the south dividing
point between properties.
You feel you just can't let your client down. You decide the rotten
stump is a coincidence. The black oak could be any oak. It isn't necessarily
the one referred to in the previous deeds.
You report that in your opinion, the monument marking the south dividing
corner between the Higgins and Douglas properties is extinct. The property
line is now established by occupation. Douglas must move the bottom half of
her fence approximately 10 acres to the west, back to the edge of the land
as the Douglas family has used it for the past 20 years.
This will cost her a bit, but it will be cheaper than it would have been
if the marker indicated in Higgins' deed had been found. She would have
then lost several acres and had to rebuild the fence.
Higgins is mad. He sues. The court assigns another surveyor to check the
land. He also finds the stump surrounded by stones, with the black oak 16
links to the east. He goes a step further than you did and has the wood from
the stump analyzed. It is indeed a white oak. In his opinion, this is the
monument referred to in the original survey.
The court rules in favor of Higgins, saying that the court-appointed surveyor
has found enough evidence to show that the monument is still there. Moreover,
the 1915 survey is also considered to back this.
"You have to do your research," says land surveyor Paul Lamoreaux.
"Some people fall down on the research because they don't want to take
the time or they are working on some sort of a budget. They don't do
all that can be done. There can be a lot at stake and ethically you have to
protect the truth."