Estate of Reasor v. Putnam County
| Decision Date | 27 May 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 55S05-9405-CV-487,55S05-9405-CV-487 |
| Citation | 635 N.E.2d 153 |
| Parties | The ESTATE OF Bertha L. REASOR, Appellant (Defendant, Counterclaimant, Third-party Plaintiff, and Counterdefendant below) v. PUTNAM COUNTY, Indiana, S. Page Cotton, Jr., Narda G. Cotton a/k/a Narda Cotton, John F. Hiemenz, Jr., Joann M. Hiemenz, Anthony William Harmless, James E. Ross, Judith D. Ross, Edward G. Ypma, Eleanor S. Ypma, Appellees (Plaintiffs and Counterdefendants below), Alan Stanley and Alan Stanley and Associates, Inc., Appellees (Third-party Defendants and Counterclaimants below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Gregory W. Black, Deckard, O'Brien, Black, Danville, for appellant.
Robert J. Lowe, Greencastle, for appellees.
ON PETITION TO TRANSFER
This case comes to us on a petition to transfer the decision of the Court of Appeals in Reasor v. Putnam County (1993), Ind.App., 615 N.E.2d 131. This case began as an action to reform the deeds to certain properties that once belonged to Bertha Reasor and her husband, Walker. The Court of Appeals adequately stated the facts, and we shall simply quote them from its opinion:
In this real estate dispute, the trial court ordered that the deeds to several lots, once owned by Appellant, ninety-three year-old Bertha Reasor, and her late husband, Walker Reasor, be reformed. The facts which gave rise to this order span nearly thirty years and are discussed in detail below....
Bertha Reasor and her late husband Walker owned approximately 173 acres of land in Putnam County, northwest of Greencastle, Indiana. The property is bordered on the east by Dunbar Bridge Road, and on the south by Reasor Hills Drive. Reasor Hills Drive was a private road until it was conveyed to the county by the Reasors in the late 1960's.
In the late 1960's to 1970, Reasors conveyed eight lots immediately north of Reasor Hills Drive to eight different buyers, conveying the lots in order from west to east. Instead of preparing a plat of the entire property, Mr. Reasor had Alan Stanley prepare surveys and legal descriptions as each lot was sold. Stanley prepared the legal descriptions for all of the conveyances except for the first, based on instructions from Mr. Reasor. For some of the lots, Mr. Reasor and the buyer had set corner stakes. However, all of the lots were sold on the basis of acreage and the buyers understood that the location of the stakes might have to be adjusted to conform to the desired acreage. The deeds were signed by the original owners as well as Mr. and Mrs. Reasor. The lots were conveyed in order from west to east as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
DeBoer/ Bryant Ypma Gray/ Ulm/ E Cotton Hiemenz Gammon
Ross Harmless Terry A
S
E
M
E
N
T
In preparing the legal descriptions, Stanley assumed an east-west bearing consistent with the legal description in the deed used for the first conveyance (reminder--Stanley did not prepare the legal description for the first conveyance). This east-west bearing was used as a beginning point for each of the subsequent descriptions.
Before Walker Reasor sold the sixth lot from the west to Cotton, he decided to keep a 50-foot strip of property between the fifth and sixth lots, and to grant an easement to the owners of lots 5 and 6. He told Stanley this when he hired him to prepare the legal description for Lot 6 (Cotton). However, Cotton and Walker Reasor set the stake for the south-west corner of the lot only 31 feet from Lot 5 (Ulm/Terry), while the north-west stake was set 50 feet from Lot 5. Stanley knew this and discussed it with Walker Reasor. However, Stanley instructed his employees to prepare a legal description which accounted for the easement. Lot 6 was therefore described on paper with a west property line that was parallel to, and fifty feet away from, the east line of the Ulm/Terry lot. (R. 976). However, the description is inconsistent with the property actually being occupied by Cotton. The descriptions of the two lots east of the Cotton lots were prepared as if there was a fifty-foot easement west of the Cotton lot. (R. 978).
In 1983, after Walker Reasor had died, Bertha Reasor decided to build a fence on the southern border of her property and employed Stanley's surveying firm to stake a fence on the property lines between her property and the conveyed lots. Stanley did not rely on the legal descriptions in the deeds; rather, his employees staked the fence line according to markers they found in the field, including evidence of an old fence. The staking was completed in 1984. Reasor then had the fence built according to Stanley's stakes.
In 1985, after the new fence had been completed, Reasor was involved in a dispute with Putnam County over some damage allegedly done to her property by county road crews. She hired a different surveyor, Stanley Shartle, to survey the entire 173 acres. Shartle used the bearing system and the initial or "beginning point" as published by Stanley in the Bryant and Ypma deeds (Lots 2 and 3), but not in any of the other deeds. The bearing system uses the east-west quarter-quarter section line "beginning at the stone marking the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of northwest quarter of Section 17, Township 14 North, Range 4 West; thence east...." Shartle looked for a stone marking the northeast corner of the property; however, the stone he found was not the marker used by Stanley in preparing the deeds. Therefore, Shartle's survey resulted in a plat, that, when compared to Stanley's, showed every boundary as being different. Shartle also determined that, in his opinion, the fence line which Stanley staked was farther north than the border indicated by the legal descriptions Stanley prepared. Stanley agreed to this at trial, but maintained that the fence line indicated what the parties originally intended to be the property line between the properties. Some of the original buyers testified (after the fence had been built) that the new fence was built along what they believed to be their northern property line. As to the difference between the starting points, both surveyors and the trial court agree that "honest surveyors may legitimately differ on starting points and bearing systems." There is no evidence that one survey--either that of Stanley or Shartle--is "more correct" than the other.
Alan Stanley also prepared two inconsistent, inadequate legal descriptions for Reasor Hills Drive. Neither one was intended to be used for conveyance purposes; however, one was used in a warranty deed from Reasors to the County which was recorded in 1967 and the other appeared in a dedication of the road to the County, which was also recorded. All agree that both descriptions are inadequate and should be reformed.
After Shartle told her about the problems with the fence and the legal descriptions, Reasor, her attorney and Shartle contacted Stanley, who was at that time county surveyor, and his personal lawyer, Robert Lowe, who, coincidentally, was the county attorney. Reasor suggested that Stanley build a new fence, using the correct property lines as reflected in the legal descriptions. Stanley refused because he maintained that, although he did not consult the legal descriptions in staking the fence line, the stakes represented the true intentions of the parties as to the northern boundaries. He also maintained that with the exception of the Bryant and Ypma deeds (Lots 2 and 3), the descriptions of the lots west of the easement are essentially correct and adequate. As to the three lots east of the easement, Stanley maintained that these descriptions are incorrect because the Cotton property cuts into the easement. The parties nonetheless engaged in negotiations. While engaged in negotiations with Reasor, Stanley and Lowe approached the County Commissioners about bringing a reformation action against Reasor. The commissioners approved the lawsuit and approached the property owners, most of whom were joined as plaintiffs.
Putnam County and all but one of the property owners (collectively referred to as "County"), filed suit against Bertha Reasor. She in turn, sued the County and Alan Stanley. After an eight-day trial, several amendments to the pleadings, and three and 1/2 years, the trial court issued its decision. A summary of the allegations and the court's order follows:
1. Putnam County and Landowners v. Reasor--This lawsuit was initiated on May 20, 1986, when the County and the landowners sued Reasor for reformation of all of the deeds from the eight conveyed lots. The County also sought reformation of the deed conveying Reasor Hills Drive to the county. All agree the road was not properly described. In an amended complaint filed March 26, 1987, the County alleged Reasor violated a county ordinance prohibiting grading property in such a way so as to cause drainage on to a county road. This allegation stemmed from bulldozing activity conducted by Reasor on June 9, 1986, after the first complaint was filed. The County sought $25.00/day for each day the condition remained.
The court held that all of the deeds would be reformed by Stanley with the expenses to be paid by Stanley or his corporation. Although the court found that Reasor violated the county ordinance in the way in which she graded the property, the court refused to order her to pay a fine.
2. Reasor v. Alan Stanley and Alan Stanley and Assoc., Inc.--In a third party complaint, Reasor sued Stanley for negligence and breach of contract in preparing the legal descriptions, and for negligence in staking the fence. She also charged bad faith and breach of his ethical duty as a surveyor for...
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