Boyer v. Boyer

2008 UT App 138, 183 P.3d 1068, 2008 Utah App. LEXIS 135, 2008 WL 1746635
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedApril 17, 2008
DocketCase No. 20061163-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2008 UT App 138 (Boyer v. Boyer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyer v. Boyer, 2008 UT App 138, 183 P.3d 1068, 2008 Utah App. LEXIS 135, 2008 WL 1746635 (Utah Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

BILLINGS, Judge:

11 Helen Boyer (Plaintiff), as trustee of the Lyle and Helen Boyer Revocable Trust (the Trust), appeals the trial court's order granting summary judgment and dismissing Dannie Green as a defendant in this case. Plaintiff also appeals the trial court's failure to award damages, costs, and attorney fees. We affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.

BACKGROUND

112 Joseph and Lois Boyer owned land in Summit County, Utah, near Coalville, Utah, including two adjoining sections: Section 31, Township 3 North, Range 6 East, Salt Lake Base and Meridian (Section 31), and Section 32, Township 3 North, Range 6 East, Salt Lake Base and Meridian (Section 82). Joseph died in 1967 and Lois died in 1971.

1 3 In 1979, William Boyer-co-executor of Joseph and Lois Boyer's estate-executed an executor's deed conveying various property to Vern Boyer, now deceased. According to the executor's deed, Vern received Section 82. Eventually, Vern's son, Tom Boyer, acquired Section 82. In October 2008, Section 32 passed to Fewkes Canyon, LLC (Fewkes), and shortly thereafter, Fewkes conveyed a few acres to Tom's son, Jeremy Boyer. 1 Tom Boyer, Fewkes, and Jeremy Boyer (collectively, Defendants) are among the named defendants in this action.

14 Also in 1979, William Boyer executed another executor's deed conveying property to Lyle Boyer, now deceased. According to this executor's deed, Lyle received Section 31. Lyle retained his interest in Section 31, and in 1988 he quitelaimed Section 31 to the Trust.

T5 In the lifetime of Joseph and Lois, Sections 81 and 82 were fenced around their perimeter. However, there was no fence between Sections 31 and 82. Thus, not long after the deaths of Joseph and Lois, a dispute arose between Vern (and his son Tom) and Lyle concerning the boundary between Sections 31 and 82. In 1976, Tom hired licensed surveyor Fred Malan to conduct a survey and establish a fence line between Sections 31 and 32 (the Malan Survey). Ma-lan prepared a certified report in September 1977. According to the Malan Survey, Malan located a rock with markings on the north boundary of the line between Sections 31 and 32, and indicated that the rock was at the intersection between Sections 31 and 82.

1 6 Not long after the Malan Survey, sometime in 1977 or 1978, Tom erected a fence between Sections 81 and 82. Tom called this fence a "stock fence" and maintained that it was erected only to keep out livestock.

T7 Later, in 1985, because of continuing disagreement on the location of the boundary line, Tom hired another surveyor, Bing Christensen, to establish the line back to the original 1874 U.S. Government survey (the Christensen Survey). Christensen prepared a drawing showing his results, including stone monuments and fence corner posts he found and accepted as evidence of the location of corresponding section corners. The drawing indicated that a stone was located at the "fence corner" where Sections 31 and 32 meet at the northern boundary. Thus, the Christensen Survey and the Malan Survey both reflected a similar boundary line between Sections 31 and 82.

18 In 2008, because of continuing disagreements, Tom commissioned a third survey by Dannie Green of Alta Surveying (the Green Survey). The Green Survey indicated that the boundary line between Sections 31 and 32 was approximately 420 feet west of where the Malan and Christensen Surveys had placed the northern boundary and approximately 50 feet west of where the Malan and Christensen Surveys had placed the southern boundary. This discrepancy resulted because the Green Survey did not take at face value the location of the stone, as did the Malan and Christensen Surveys. Instead, the Green Survey relied upon the topographic calls from the original 1874 survey. Thus, the Green Survey moved the boundary line *1071 into Section 81 about 420 feet at the north end and 50 feet at the south end. After performing the survey, Green filed a survey plat with the Summit County surveyor's office.

19 Based on the Green Survey, Tom removed the fence he had erected in 1977 or 1978 and erected a new fence along the line shown as the boundary by the Green Survey. When Tom removed the old fence, he stored its remnants on Section 82.

10 Plaintiff brought a quiet title action seeking to resolve the boundary between Sections 81 and 82. Plaintiff also named Green as a defendant, asserting claims for negligence in performing the Green Survey and for wrongful lien under Utah Code seetion 38-9-1(6), see Utah Code Ann. § 38-9-1(6) (2005). The trial court dismissed Green as a defendant on summary judgment. The matter then went to trial and the trial court quieted title in the disputed property in the Trust and ordered the fence moved to match the previously established property line. The fence has since been moved back to its original location. The trial court did not award the Trust damages or attorney fees. Plaintiff now appeals the dismissal of Green as a defendant and the denial of damages, costs, and attorney fees.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

T11 First, Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred when it granted Green's motion for summary judgment and dismissed Green as a defendant in this case. "Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). On appeal, we review the district court's ruling on summary judgment for correctness." Jackson v. Mateus, 2003 UT 18, ¶6, 70 P.3d 78.

1112 Second, Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred when it ruled that Plaintiff did not sustain her burden of proof on damages. The adequacy of damages is a question of fact, and an appellate court will not overturn the trial court's findings unless they are clearly erroneous. See In re Knickerbocker, 912 P.2d 969, 981 (Utah 1996).

[13 Third, Plaintiff argues that the trial court failed to award her costs and attorney fees. " 'Whether attorney fees are recoverable in an action is a question of law, which is reviewed for correctness." Miller v. Martineau & Co., 1999 UT App 216, ¶28, 983 P.2d 1107 (quoting Wardley Corp. v. Welsh, 962 P.2d 86, 92 (Utah Ct.App.1998)).

ANALYSIS

I. Green's Dismissal as a Defendant

114 On appeal, Plaintiff first argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment and dismissing Green as a defendant. We conclude that because Green performed his survey work at Tom's request, Green's duty ran toward Tom and not toward Plaintiff, who was the adjacent landowner and who never relied on the survey.

115 To prevail on a negligence claim in Utah, a plaintiff must establish, among other things, that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care. Absent a showing of duty, the claim of negligence has no merit. See Young v. Salt Lake City Sch. Dist., 2002 UT 64, ¶2, 52 P.3d 1230. Accordingly, a dismissal is properly granted when the defendant owed no duty to the plaintiff, - See Slisze v.

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Bluebook (online)
2008 UT App 138, 183 P.3d 1068, 2008 Utah App. LEXIS 135, 2008 WL 1746635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyer-v-boyer-utahctapp-2008.