Lindgren v. Martin
| Decision Date | 08 December 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 22779,22779 |
| Citation | 130 Idaho 854,949 P.2d 1061 |
| Parties | LeRoy E. LINDGREN and Patricia A. Lindgren, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Ruth MARTIN, Defendant-Appellant, and The heirs and devisees, if any, of the Estate of Albert Martin, and to all other persons, unknown, claiming any right, title, estate, lien or interest in the real property described in the complaint adverse to plaintiffs' ownership or any cloud upon plaintiffs' title thereto, Defendants. Coeur d'Alene, October 1997 Term |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Finney & Finney, Sandpoint, for appellant. Gary A. Finney argued.
Paul W. Vogel, Jr., Sandpoint, argued for respondents.
This is an appeal from the district court's decree quieting title to a 0.93 acre parcel of land in Bonner County. The decree was in favor of LeRoy and Patricia Lindgren based upon the order of the district court holding that the Lindgrens had proved their claim of title by adverse possession and their claim of boundary by acquiescence. We affirm the decree.
The Lindgrens are the owners of a twenty-acre parcel of land described as the E1/2 of the NE1/4 of the NE1/4 of Section 15, Township 57 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Bonner County, Idaho. Adjoining this land to the west was a parcel owned by Albert and Ruth Martin, described as the W1/2 of the NE1/4 of the NE1/4 of Section 15, Township 57 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Bonner County, Idaho and later as the West 1/2 of Government Lot 3. Where the two parcels adjoin, Trestle Creek Road runs along the approximate north boundary of the properties. Trestle Creek flows through the properties generally in an east-west direction. At the point where the two parcels adjoin, Trestle Creek is located about 300 feet south of Trestle Creek Road.
At the time they acquired their property in 1960, the Lindgrens were aware of a fence running between Trestle Creek Road on the north and Trestle Creek on the south. The Lindgrens moved onto their property and over the years, they maintained and repaired the original barbed wire fence and replaced it first in 1965 with peeled poles and again in the 1970's with cedar boards. The Lindgrens treated the fence line as the westerly boundary of their property.
The Martins never resided on their property after they purchased it in 1957. They moved to Bonner County from their home in California in 1963 and at that time used the property adjoining the Lindgrens' primarily on weekends and for vacations. The Martins eventually sold off all but approximately sixteen acres adjoining the Lindgrens' property, which they visited less and less.
Sometime in 1971, the Martins hired an attorney to contact the Lindgrens concerning the boundary line between their adjoining properties. By letter of June 17, 1971, the Martins' attorney advised the Lindgrens that a survey had been obtained which showed that the existing fence line between the properties "is not located on the true and exact property lines." The letter further requested that the Lindgrens cease encroaching on the Martins' property and restore the survey line. There is nothing to reflect a change in the parties' positions as a result of the letter, indeed the Lindgrens continued to occupy the property up to the fence line. In addition to keeping the fence in good repair, the Lindgrens maintained a lock on a gate and fence located along Trestle Creek Road on the northerly boundary of the disputed parcel and their property through which they had exclusive access to their home. The Lindgrens used the disputed parcel at various times to store a car, car parts and snowmobiles, to maintain a lumber pile, to play on and to camp on. They cleared the area of dead fall and planted trees consistent with promoting the wilderness habitat where they could observe local wildlife. Until the completion of a survey in 1991 which located the fence in relation to the parcel described in their deed, the Lindgrens were unaware of the true boundary line separating their property from the land owned by the Martins. This survey revealed that the fence line was located to the west of the mutual boundary between the Lindgrens' and the Martins' properties as described in their deeds. The survey exhibited the disputed parcel at issue in this case, an area 0.93 acres in size bounded on the east by the mutual boundary found in the deeds' descriptions, by Trestle Creek Road on the north, by the fence line on the west and on the south by the centerline of Trestle Creek.
In 1993 the Lindgrens filed a complaint against Ruth Martin and the heirs and devisees of Albert Martin, seeking to quiet title to the disputed 0.93 acres as described in the 1991 survey. The Lindgrens claimed title by adverse possession of the disputed parcel. As an alternative theory, they also alleged the existence of a boundary by acquiescence The district court issued findings and conclusions on January 4, 1996. The district court found that the property inclosed by the fence constituted an area of 0.93 acres in size, that the fence had been in the same location since 1940, and that the parties' grantors as far back as 1956 had considered the fence "our fence line." The district court made findings as to the Lindgrens' exclusive use of a locked gate providing access to the disputed property, their efforts to clear brush and fallen limbs in the area, and the ways that they used and improved the property. The district court found that the fence was acquiesced in as the boundary line from 1940 to 1960, the date of the Lindgrens' purchase, from 1960 to 1971 by the Lindgrens and the Martins, and after the 1971 letter to the date of the instant action. Accordingly, the district court concluded that the Lindgrens had proved entitlement to the disputed 0.93 acres both by adverse possession and by boundary by acquiescence. On January 23, 1996, the district court entered a decree quieting title to the disputed 0.93 acres in favor of the Lindgrens, followed by an order and judgment awarding costs to the Lindgrens as the prevailing party. Martin timely appealed from the decree quieting title in the Lindgrens.
that is, the fence line running in a north-south direction between Trestle Creek Road and Trestle Creek. Martin answered and counterclaimed, asserting her right to title to the disputed parcel. The case proceeded to trial before the court without a jury.
Martin raises three issues on appeal. Martin asserts that the legal description of the disputed property awarded in the decree quieting title in the Lindgrens is not supported by the evidence. She challenges the district court's finding of inclosure, which supported the district court's conclusion that a claim of adverse possession had been proved. She also contends that the district court erred in finding a boundary by acquiescence in that the district court failed to find a required element, i.e., that the boundary was uncertain or in dispute.
Initially, the district court found that the disputed parcel constituted an area of 0.93 acres in size. The district court described the area inclosed by the fence line as follows:
[F]rom the Trestle Creek Road to Trestle Creek; from Trestle Creek east to the true north south line; along the true north south line north to the northwest corner of the property; and from the true northwest corner of the property to the northern terminus of the fence line.
Later, in the decree quieting title to the disputed area in the Lindgrens, the district court described the property by metes and bounds. Martin claims that because the district court did not make a finding regarding the legal description of the disputed property, the metes and bounds description contained in the decree is unsupported by the record and cannot stand.
A metes and bounds description in a quiet title judgment, which was unsupported by the record and based apparently on a survey conducted by counsel for the successful party after trial, has been held improper, and a new survey by disinterested, qualified engineers should be ordered. Lisher v. Krasselt, 94 Idaho 513, 517, 492 P.2d 52, 56 (1972). Contrary to Martin's assertion, the record in this case reflects that the metes and bounds description was derived from the survey performed by Larry Glahe in 1991. The survey was admitted into evidence as plaintiff's exhibit 1 to provide the legal description of the 0.93 acres and to illustrate the location of the fence line in relation to the true line between the parcels and the location of the fence line in relation to Trestle Creek Road and Trestle Creek. Glahe also testified at trial that the metes and bounds description was the legal description...
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