Sims v. Daker

• Decision Date: 23 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. 39760.,39760.
• Citation: 154 Idaho 975,303 P.3d 1231
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Parties: Jimmy SIMS and Susan C. Sims, f/k/a Susan C. Dodge, husband and wife, Plaintiffs–Respondents, v. Eugene Thomas DAKER and Elda Mae Daker, husband and wife, Defendants–Appellants.

154 Idaho 975

303 P.3d 1231

Jimmy SIMS and Susan C. Sims, f/k/a Susan C. Dodge, husband and wife, Plaintiffs–Respondents,

v.Eugene Thomas DAKER and Elda Mae Daker, husband and wife, Defendants–Appellants.

No. 39760.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

May 23, 2013.

Mark S. Snyder, Lewiston, for appellants.

Dale O. Cox, Orofino, for respondents.

J. JONES, Justice.

This is a boundary line dispute between neighboring property owners in Clearwater County. Jimmy and Susan Sims brought suit against Eugene and Elda Daker, claiming a fence line between their properties constituted a boundary by agreement. Following a bench trial, the district court ruled in favor of the Simses. We affirm.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

When this case arose, the Dakers and the Simses were adjoining property owners on what is known as "Greer Grade" in Clearwater County. The Dakers acquired their property, consisting of approximately 103 acres, from Craft Wall of Idaho, Inc., in 1983. The Sims property, consisting of approximately 12 acres, was acquired by Susan Sims from Elgin and Claudia Larson in 1999. The Sims property borders the east side of the Dakers' property.

According to the deeds by which both parties acquired their properties, the common line between the NW ¼ NE ¼ and the NE ¼ NE ¼ of Section 11 (the "Deeded Line") is the boundary between the two properties. The Dakers claim ownership to the Deeded Line, which is their east boundary. The Simses claim ownership of an approximately three-acre parcel located to the west of the Deeded Line (The Parcel). The Parcel is roughly triangular in shape with the Deeded Line being the east boundary, a fence line that runs from the Deeded Line to a switchback on Highway 11 forming the northwest border, and the State Highway 11 right-of-way forming the southwest border.

This dispute arose in late 2009, when Randy Hollibaugh, who was then leasing the Dakers' property, hired a surveyor to locate their east boundary. The survey revealed that the Parcel was located entirely within the legal description in the Dakers' deed. When the Simses learned of the survey, they contacted the Dakers, who lived out of state. Jimmy Sims listened in on a phone call between his wife and Elda Daker and described it at trial as follows:

A. [Jimmy Sims] Ms. Daker told me that Randy [Hollibaugh] had a lease on her land, verbal lease, for $1,000 a year. She told me that she had no knowledge of him surveying her land, and that she did not give him permission to survey that land. And Ms. Daker on that telephone call told me at least twice or three times that she and her husband bought that property, the entire Daker place, by fence line. She said she and her husband—

Q. [Dakers' Counsel] You said by fence line?

A. Yes, sir. She bought it by fence line. And she said that she and her husband had walked the fence lines on that first conversation....

Jimmy Sims further testified that during subsequent calls between Elda Daker and the Simses, Ms. Daker "told us a minimum of four times that the fence lines were the boundary lines."

After the survey was completed, Hollibaugh installed a fence on the Deeded Line, precipitating this action. The Simses sued in March of 2010, seeking to quiet title to the Parcel. Hollibaugh was originally a party to the action, but when he later bought the Dakers' land, excepting the Parcel, he was dismissed from the case. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment but both motions were denied by the district court.

After a bench trial, the district court issued its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The court found:

No one knows when the fence was built. No one knows why the fence was built, or why it was built in the location where it was built. There is no evidence as to who owned the property on either side of the fence when it was built, or if the same person owned the property on both sides of the fence at the time it was built. There is no evidence to disprove that the fence was intended to be a boundary.

Thus, the district court concluded that the "boundary between the Daker and Sims property was uncertain," and that "there was an implied agreement that the fence line ... was built as a boundary between the two properties." Therefore, it "further conclude[d] that the [Simses] have proven by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence that the old fence line ... is the boundary between their property and the property owned previously by the Dakers, and now owned by the Hollibaughs." The district court therefore entered judgment quieting title to the Parcel in favor of the Simses. The Dakers filed a timely appeal.

II.ISSUES ON APPEAL

I. Did the district court err in determining that the fence line constituted a boundary by agreement?

II. Are the Simses entitled to attorney fees on appeal?

III.DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review.

On appeal from a court trial, this Court limits its review "to a determination of whether the evidence supports the trial court's findings of fact, and whether those findings support the conclusions of law." Watkins Co., LLC v. Storms, 152 Idaho 531, 535, 272 P.3d 503, 507 (2012). In doing so we "liberally construe the trial court's findings of fact in favor of the judgment entered, as it is within the province of the trial court to weigh conflicting evidence and testimony and judge the credibility of witnesses." Id. We "will not disturb findings of fact on appeal that are supported by substantial and competent evidence, even if there is conflicting evidence at trial." Id. "[C]onclusions of law are freely reviewed by this Court, drawing its own conclusions from the facts presented in the record." Id.

B. The district court correctly determined that the fence line constituted a boundary by agreement.

The district court concluded that the fence line was the boundary between the Simses' and Dakers' properties and consequently held that the Parcel belonged to the Simses. On appeal, the Dakers argue that the fence does not constitute a boundary by agreement because the Simses' "use of the disputed property was not of a nature to give notice of the fence." The Dakers further note that the fence line "runs at increasing obtuse angles" from the Deeded Line. Thus, they argue, "where the fence deviates immediately and radically from the line called in the deeds and has been only a partial fence for at least the last decade, it is not reasonable to infer" that the fence constitutes a boundary by agreement. In response, the Simses contend that substantial and competent evidence supports the district court's factual findings that the fence was a boundary by agreement. As the Simses put it, "[t]here was no conflicting evidence whatsoever to the Court's findings that the fence was treated by all parties concerned as the boundary line between the [Simses'] real property and the Daker property." Thus, they argue that the fence should mark the boundary of their property and that title to the Parcel was correctly quieted in their name.

The doctrine of boundary by agreement is a well-established fixture of Idaho jurisprudence. We explained in Morrissey v. Haley that:

The doctrine of boundary by agreement is well established in this state: "[w]here the location of a true boundary line on the ground is unknown to either of the parties, and is uncertain or in dispute, [the] coterminous owners [of the parcels involved] may orally agree upon a boundary line. When such an agreement is executed and actual possession is taken under it, the parties and those claiming under them are bound thereby. In such circumstances, an agreement fixing the boundary line is not regarded as a conveyance of land from one to the other, but merely the location of the respective existing estates and the common boundary of each of the parties."

124 Idaho 870, 872–73, 865 P.2d 961, 963–64 (1993) (quoting Wells v. Williamson, 118 Idaho 37, 41, 794 P.2d 626, 630 (1990) ).

A boundary by agreement thus "has two elements: (1) there must be an uncertain or disputed boundary and (2) a subsequent agreement fixing the boundary." Luce v. Marble, 142 Idaho 264, 271, 127 P.3d 167, 174 (2005). "[I]f the location of the true boundary is unknown to either of the parties, and is uncertain or in dispute, such coterminous owners may agree upon a boundary line." Id. "[I]gnorance as to what is later deemed the true boundary" is sufficient to show uncertainty. Morrissey, 124 Idaho at 873, 865 P.2d at 964. Regarding the element of agreement, "[a]n agreement can be implied from the surrounding circumstances and conduct of the landowners," or inferred from "[a] long period of acquiescence." Marble, 142 Idaho at 271, 127 P.3d at 174. "Once a boundary line has been fixed under the doctrine of agreed boundary, that boundary is binding upon successors in interest who purchase with notice of the agreement. The general rule is that one purchasing property is put on notice as to any claim of title or right of possession which a reasonable investigation would reveal." Id.

With particular regard to fences, this Court has "repeatedly found a boundary by agreement where a fence is treated as the property line for a number of years, there is no information about why the fence was built, and no evidence to disprove that the fence was intended to be a boundary." Flying Elk Inv., LLC v. Cornwall, 149 Idaho 9, 14, 232 P.3d 330, 335 (2010). Put somewhat differently, a long-established fence leads to two presumptions:

For nearly a century it has been the law of this state that evidence of a long established fence creates two presumptions. First, when a fence line has been erected, and then coterminous landowners have treated that fence line as fixing the boundary between their properties for such a length of time that neither ought to be allowed to deny the correctness of its location the law presumes an agreement fixing that fence line as the boundary.... Second, coupled with the long existence and recognition of a fence as a boundary, the want of any evidence as to the

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