Bahneman v. Fritche

180 N.W. 215, 147 Minn. 329, 1920 Minn. LEXIS 747
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 10, 1920
DocketNo. 21,996
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 180 N.W. 215 (Bahneman v. Fritche) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bahneman v. Fritche, 180 N.W. 215, 147 Minn. 329, 1920 Minn. LEXIS 747 (Mich. 1920).

Opinion

Taylor, C.

This is an action to determine boundary lines. At the opening of the trial, plaintiff George Bahneman withdrew from the case, and plaintiff Ferdinand E. Bahneman dismissed the action as to all defendants other than William Fritche and August Fritche, Jr. The trial proceeded with Ferdinand E. Bahneman as sole plaintiff and William Fritche and August Fritche, Jr., as defendants.

All the lands in controversy are situated within section 17 of township 28 of range 20 in Washington county. The lines in dispute are: (1) The line marking the boundary between the east half and the west-half of the northeast quarter of the section; (2) the line marking the north 66 rods of the boundary between the southeast quarter and the southwest quarter of the section. At the beginning of the trial Mr. Gil-litt, as attorney for the plaintiff, and Mr. Thoreen, as attorney for the defendants, made an oral stipulation which was stated to the court by Mr. Gillitt and taken down by the reporter. Mr. Gillitt first stated that it was stipulated that plaintiff is the owner of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of the section, also of the west half of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, -and also of the north half of the southeast quarter excepting a triangular tract in the southwest corner thereof 14 rods in width along the west line thereof; that defendant William Fritche is the owner of the west half of the northeast quarter of the section, and that defendant August Fritche, Jr., is the owner of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of the section and of the triangular tract above mentioned. In short they stipulated that plaintiff owned the government subdivisions on the east side of both [331]*331lines, that William Fritche owned the government subdivision on the west side of the first line and that August Fritche, Jr., owned the government subdivision on the west side of the second line and the land at the south end of that line. Mr. Gillitt then stated the remainder of the stipulation as follows: • "

“That in October, 1914, on the 10th to the 14th inclusive, F. J. Armstrong, admitted to be a competent civil engineer, made a survey and located the boundary line between the said lands of Ferdinand E. Bahne-man, William Fritche and August Fritche, Jr.; that said survey — same being the line between the east half and the west half of said northeast quarter of section seventeen and between the north half of the southeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of said section seventeen excepting said triangular tract; that said survey was made from known government monuments.”

After-the stipulation had been stated thus far, this followed:

“Mr. Gillitt: What further do you want in there, Mr. Thoreen?
Mr. Thoreen: Why, I believe that is all. That is all that I know of.
Mr. Gillitt: I presume we better state in that stipulation that there is a controversy between the plaintiff and the defendants as to what is the true boundary lines. The plat (plaintiff’s Exhibit A) is offered in evidence as a part of the stipulation.
The Court: Is that the surveyor’s map made by Armstrong?
Mr. Gillitt: This is the surveyor’s map made by Armstrong. With that plaintiff rests.”

The defendants then presented evidence to the effect that the lines claimed by them to be the true boundary lines had been recognized and acquiesced in as such by all the landowners concerned for more than 30' years. Aside from the stipulation all the evidence presented by either party was directed to this issue, and the evidence upon this issue fills 240 pages of the record. Plaintiff conceded that tire lines in dispute were established on the ground more than 40 years ago and that the location at which they were thus established has been recognized as their true location ever since, but claimed that these old lines substantially coincided .with the lines run by Armstrong, while defendants claimed that these old lines lay east of the lines run by Armstrong. It seems [332]*332to be undisputed that for many years the first line had been marked ■by an iron stake at its north end, by a stone monument at its south end, by fence posts and fences along a part of the line, and by a line of sod between the two fields along the remainder of it. Defendants and their witnesses testified that Armstrong located the north end of this line at a point 12 inches west of the location of the old stake, and that he moved the stone monument at the south end of the line to a point two and one-half or three feet west of its original location. The trial court found as pa fact that the true line was where defendants claimed that the old line had been located.

The second line is marked by a narrow lane extending from the barnyard of August Fritche, Jr., near the north end of the line, to his pasture lying south of the south end of the line. It is undisputed that fences have been maintained on both sides of this lane for many years. Plaintiff claimed that the west fence was built on the boundary line some 40 or 50 years ago and that the east fence was built subsequently on his land with his consent by one of Fritche’s predecessors in title named Brunner, now deceased. Defendants claimed that the original fence built on the line is the east fence and that Brunner subsequently built the west fence on his own land. The court established the boundary along the line marked by the east fence and found in substance that the landowners had occupied up to this line and had recognized and acquiesced in it as the true line for more than 15 years prior to the beginning of the action. The Armstrong line does not vary much from the line of the west fence, but runs a little east of it at its north end and a little west of it at its south end.

Both parties quote from section 1083 of DunnelFs Digest the statement of the three ways in which a boundary may be established by a “practical location” of the line, and agree that a boundary line relied upon and acquiesced in for a sufficient length of time to bar a right of action under the statute of limitations, is established as the true line under the doctrine of “practical location.” The evidence tending to show a practical location of the lines in dispute at the place where the court located them is amply sufficient to sustain the findings of the court to the effect that such lines are the true boundary lines.

[333]*333Plaintiff’s principal contention in this court is that the stipulation established the lines located by Armstrong as the boundary lines between the lands oí the parties, and bars defendants from claiming that the-boundary lines are not where Armstrong placed them.

No snch. contention was made or suggested at the trial. Armstrong was not present as a witness, and both parties treated the stipulation throughout the trial as merely establishing the fact that he had made a survey and the location where he had placed the boundary lines in that survey. There is no suggestion anywhere that either party understood that the stipulation adopted the lines located by Armstrong as the true boundary lines. If the stipulation made the Armstrong lines the boundary lines, nothing remained to litigate, for the location of these lines was marked on the ground by stakes, was known to all parties and was never in dispute.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
180 N.W. 215, 147 Minn. 329, 1920 Minn. LEXIS 747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bahneman-v-fritche-minn-1920.