California Surveyors Forums

This relates to my other thread about Correction Deeds and my RofS in downtown Marysville. I have an appointment with my client to set rebar along the now disputed line tomorrow at 7am. But he just called me from over at the neighbor's house and he's quite upset about it. Making threatening statements, etc. I could hear him yelling in the background, demanding proof that what my survey is good.

I advised my client to call his attorney and ask him about it because he wants to start building a fence the minute I'm done setting rebar. So I've left it up to him to get legal advice. I even suggested that he call the police department and try and get a "civil standby" arranged, to have the police there in case this gets out of hand.

But what about me? Can I be arrested for trespass, or something else, for attempting to set my points? Should I decline to do anything until he gets advice from his attorney?

My client is 814 Oak St. on the attached portion of the map. There has never been a fence between him and 816 Oak St., in the front (east) third of the lots. But there is an old fence in the back third. It varies from 12' to 14' south of the common line. It was obvious to me when I was out there that it was built to just give some privacy to the back yard area. These are small enough lots that anyone with a brain could rough measure better than 14' off if they wanted to build a fence on the P/L.

So yeah, the neighbor could claim that it was supposed to be a boundary fence, but it would be a hard one to prove, especially since it was obviously built by one of my client's previous owners. He bought it 2 years ago. The fence is attached to my client's house.

By the way, the hiatus isn't really at issue. Either of the two sidelines of the sliver gap are too far north in the neighbor's opinion.

Anyway......should I hold off, wait for my client to get advice of his counsel? Or am I safe in marking the line against this neighbor's wishes?

"The surveyor does not want to encourage litigation, but, ultimately is indifferent to litigation."

Until, that is, he gets sued for slander of title. Indifference evaporates really fast under those circumstances.

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I agree with Dave. I would stake the line while making sure the police/sheriff is on notice. If the neighbor attempts to interfere, I would have him/her arrested. I would suggest that your client send a certified letter informing the neighbor that he/she is going to install the new fence on a certain date. Unless there is a critical urgency, it can wait two weeks. As Dave wisely suggested, urge the neighbor to review the survey and make sure you file it right away, whether a CR or ROS, even if not required. Produce an "official" survey . If there is a processing delay, advise the client to wait until the survey has been filed before starting construction. The courts and the law will favor you once the survey is filed. Tell the neighbor he/she can review the survey and visit the County Engineer.
Do not be intimidated. You are doing your job.
The attached is 22 years old. My how time flies.
LSACTS has a great paper on trespass issues. it should be helpful. I have attached it and provided a link.
http://www.lsacts.com/documents/Right%2 ... 20V1.6.pdf

Good luck.

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Don't have time to read those articles, but I will soon as I get back to the office. Heading out to the job site.

Thanks, again.....

Lee

Dave,

Excellent post.

So when I drive up the alley, there's a Marysville PD unit, with an officer talking to the neighbors. I asked my client if it was OK to talk to them (the wife, actually...the husband wasn't there) and give them a preliminary copy of the map. He said OK so I went over both sheets with the wife and the cop paying close attention. Told her my map gave her lot the exact lot width, front and back, that her deed called for. I think I helped to calm down the situation. Anyway, the points are set and it's time to record the map.

My client got the bulk of the space between the two houses...enough to park his car there now (instead of the neighbor parking his car there).

Whew! Thanks for the timely advice, everyone.

SteveGardner wrote:I know this is not relevant to your immediate question but I'd be curious to eventually hear what you used to determine these boundaries.

The street along the south of the block has 3 centerline monument wells and one PK at the alley, and all 4 line up perfectly. Highway 20/70 runs along the north side of the block but amazingly Caltrans District 3 doesn't have a single map or anything else covering this portion of their highway. Not one! This is the first time I've ever gone to Caltrans for documentation and gone away empty handed.

I used a split of the curbs for the highway. The south ends of the streets on the east and west side were fixed by the mon wells. Their north ends were established by curb splits.

This is fairly typical for Marysville: a smattering of monuments rounded out by splitting the improvements. Most blocks I've run across come out pretty good, actually.

That sounds like the proper solution. Great effort across the board!

Steve...

The Official Map of Marysville was filed in 1856 and there's never been any evidence that monuments were set, but they had to have been because things are remarkably consistent and close to what you'd expect.

Over the years, the City has installed some CL mons, as have various surveying and engineering firms. Considering how old the map is I take great comfort in how regular and reliable the curb and sidewalk improvements are once you split them.

The thing is, there is no alternative; occasionally you simply have to resort to a split of improvements. The original lots were not monumented; there's never been any indication of this. MHM is the old firm in that area and they have done a lot of surveys over the past hundred years, most of them recorded, but some unrecorded. So yes, you can occasionally find some lot corners going around the block.

Take heart in the fact that many maps inside the City have been recorded this way. Unquestionably, this is the commonly accepted way of surveying in Marysville.

I feel for you, re the dogs. But also for the hornets nest collection of owners you have to deal with. Hang in there.....

"pls5528; I have (on occasion) got a police escort, and normally bring my CLSA "Right of Entry" document, but have the biggest problem with German Shepherds, because "they can't read". "

Times like that are when I am glad I am no longer working in CA. In my neck of the woods I can have an equalizer with me. In fact in 4 of the 5 states I am licensed to work in.

SJ