Walters v. Snyder

• Decision Date: 04 April 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 215536.
• Citation: 608 N.W.2d 97,239 Mich. App. 453
• Parties: Harold E. WALTERS, Jr., and Margaret Mary Walters, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Steven D. SNYDER, Defendant-Appellant, and Mona L. Gillispie, Defendant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

608 N.W.2d 97

239 Mich. App. 453

Harold E. WALTERS, Jr., and Margaret Mary Walters, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Steven D. SNYDER, Defendant-Appellant, and Mona L. Gillispie, Defendant.

Docket No. 215536.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted December 8, 1999, at Grand Rapids.

Decided January 14, 2000, at 9:20 a.m.

Released for Publication April 4, 2000

Charles E. Martell, Kalamazoo, for the plaintiffs.

James Shek, South Haven, for the defendant.

Before: MURPHY, P.J., and HOOD and NEFF, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant Steven D. Snyder appeals as of right an amended judgment ordering him to remove a fence and garage that encroach on the property of plaintiff Harold E. Walters, Jr.¹ We reverse and remand.

In a previous opinion this Court discussed the facts underlying this dispute:

This case arises from a boundary dispute between defendant and plaintiff, the respective owners of lots 3 and 4 of the platted subdivision of Helena Beach in St. Joseph County. Both lots were originally platted with 50' by 150' dimensions, both front Portage Lake, and both lots are bounded on the rear by Lake Avenue. The lots appeared to be separated by a line of bushes and small trees situated along the northern border of lot 3 and the southern border of lot 4.

Plaintiff inherited lot 4 in 1965 from his father, who purchased the property in 1956. Defendant bought lot 3 in 1991 from Richard and Nancy Speece, who purchased the property in 1981 from Edward and Virginia Culp, who purchased the property in 1973 from Helen Runion. A survey done before the sale of the property to defendant in 1991 revealed that both a fence and part of a garage that had been constructed on lot 3 sometime after May 1984 actually intruded onto the southern portion of lot 4 by approximately twelve feet and that the line of bushes was not the platted boundary line.

In 1993, plaintiff filed suit, requesting the trial court to order defendant to remove the fence and garage that were unlawfully encroaching on his property. Defendant responded that he had equitable title to that strip of property because plaintiff had acquiesced to the bushes representing the boundary line between the properties for the fifteen-year statutory period.

Following a bench trial, the trial court issued an opinion stating that it was unable to find "clearly and positively or affirmatively" that plaintiff had acquiesced to the bushes representing the boundary line between the properties at issue. Accordingly, defendant was ordered to remove the garage and fence from plaintiff's property. [ Walters v. Snyder, 225 Mich.App. 219, 220-221, 570 N.W.2d 301 (1997).]

In his earlier appeal to this Court, defendant argued that the circuit court had erred in requiring him to prove his affirmative defense of acquiescence by "clear and positive proof" rather than a mere preponderance of the evidence. This Court agreed and remanded the case so that the circuit court could reconsider its decision "in light of the lower, correct standard." Id. at 224, 570 N.W.2d 301. After reconsideration, the circuit court released the presently appealed supplemental opinion and revised judgment, again finding in favor of plaintiff.

In this second appeal, defendant argues that while applying the appropriate standard of proof on reconsideration, the trial court clearly erred in concluding that plaintiff had not acquiesced to the bush line as the boundary line. This Court reviews the findings of fact by a trial court sitting without a jury under the clearly erroneous standard. Gumma v. D & T Constr. Co., 235 Mich.App. 210, 221, 597 N.W.2d 207 (1999); MCR 2.613(C). A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire record is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Gumma, supra at 221, 597 N.W.2d 207. In contrast, we review a trial court's conclusions of law de novo. Id. Furthermore, where the trial court's factual findings may have been influenced by an incorrect view of the law, an appellate court's review of those findings is not limited to clear error. Beason v. Beason, 435 Mich. 791, 805, 460 N.W.2d 207 (1990). In this case we conclude that on reconsideration the circuit court proceeded under an incorrect view of the doctrine of acquiescence. The court's factual findings, thus influenced, were erroneous.

In remanding this action on defendant's first appeal, this Court noted:

[A] claim of acquiescence to a boundary line based upon the statutory period of fifteen years, M.C.L. § 600.5801(4); MSA 27A.5801(4), requires merely a showing that the parties acquiesced in the line and treated the line as the boundary for the statutory period, irrespective of whether there was a bona fide controversy regarding the boundary. Sackett v. Atyeo, 217 Mich.App. 676, 681, 552 N.W.2d 536 (1996). A claim of acquiescence does not require that the possession be hostile or without permission. [ Walters, supra at 224, 570 N.W.2d 301.]

Three theories of acquiescence are in fact noted by Sackett, supra: (1) acquiescence for the statutory period, (2) acquiescence following a dispute and agreement, and (3) acquiescence arising from intention to deed to a marked boundary. As indicated by the passage above, the relevant theory in this case is acquiescence for the statutory period.

On remand, as it had done on first consideration, while acknowledging that neither controversy nor hostility were required to establish acquiescence, the circuit court ultimately concluded that implied or passive assent to a boundary line had to be based on knowledge, notice, or recognition of some event, conduct, or circumstance occurring continuously for the statutory period. The circuit court effectively established as a necessary "element" of acquiescence, the continuous existence of an objective transaction. The court then separately analyzed the events or acts referenced by the parties as demonstrative of their understanding regarding the boundary line. Finding that the fence provided the best example of an objective transaction on which to base notice, the court determined that acquiescence in the fence line as a boundary could be traced only as far back as 1984 or 1985, whenever the fence and garage were constructed. The court then concluded that with regard to the various evidence concerning plaintiff's alleged acquiescence to the bush line as a boundary before 1984, there had been no continuous act or transaction such that acquiescence could be found.

Michigan precedent, however, has not defined an explicit set of elements necessary to satisfy the doctrine of acquiescence. Rather, the courts have discussed the doctrine in more general terms. For example, our Supreme Court has noted: "It has been repeatedly held by this court that a boundary...