Burgess v. Healey

273 P. 968, 73 Utah 316, 1929 Utah LEXIS 56
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 1929
DocketNo. 4633.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 273 P. 968 (Burgess v. Healey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burgess v. Healey, 273 P. 968, 73 Utah 316, 1929 Utah LEXIS 56 (Utah 1929).

Opinion

GIDEON, J.

Plaintiff and defendant own adjoining premises in lot 8, block 2, Plat A, Alpine City survey, in Utah county. The *317 premises are located in a small village within that county. Plaintiff’s premises, upon which he resides with his family, lie immediately north of the defendant’s premises. The purpose of the action is to determine the south boundary line of plaintiff’s land and to enjoin the defendant from trespassing on said premises.

Trial was had. The court made findings and conclusions and determined that the true boundary line is the line A-B as indicated on the map found in the record and as also appears in the memorandum opinion of the trial court. From that judgment this appeal is prosecuted. The errors assigned challenge the findings of the court and its judgment as not being supported by the evidence.

The trial court, in a memorandum decision, has this to say respecting the matters in dispute and as to the rights of the parties:

“This case involves a boundary line dispute. The plaintiff in his complaint describes lands as being situated in Alpine City, Utah county, state of Utah, particularly described as follows: Commencing 132.65 feet north of the northeast corner of lot 8, block 2, Plat A, Alpine City survey; thence west 28 rods; thence north 54 feet; thence east 28 rods; thence south 54 feet to the place of beginning, situate in the southeast quarter of section 24, township 4 south, range 1 east of Salt Lake meridian.
“The defendant in his answer admits that the plaintiff is the owner of the land described in plaintiff’s complaint, but the dispute arises on the matter of applying the description to the land itself. The dispute involved arises on the first call from the beginning point, to wit, ‘thence west 28 rods.’ That the point actually involved may be better understood, the court submits the following diagram:
“The defendant contends that the call, to wit, .‘west 28 rods,’ should be construed according to the true meridian as represented *318 above by the point A-C, whereas the plaintiff contends that the call should be construed in accordance with the surrounding circumstances apparent near the property as A-B. In other words, the defendant contends that the call ‘thence west 28 rods’ means west according to the true meridian, whereas the plaintiff claims that the call means westerly and not due west.
“The determination of the question also involves the question of whether or not parol evidence may he admitted in connection with the deed itself, the defendant contending that the deed, particularly the description and the call in question, is unambiguous, and that therefore parol evidence is inadmissible to vary, change, or explain it in any way; whereas, the plaintiff contends that parol evidence is admissible as showing that the plat of Alpine City, or the method in which the lots in the particular block where the property is located are platted, should be received to show that the lots in that block are not platted on the true meridian, that is, due west, but, rather, westerly and parallel with the line suggested in the diagram above, A-B.
“Counsel in the case have submitted briefs and the court has undertaken to make some independent search on this point. Counsel for the plaintiff have cited the case of Reed v. Tacoma Bld. & Sav. Ass’n, a Washington case reported in 26 P., at page 252 (2 Wash. 198, 26 Am. St. Rep. 851). After a careful reading of this case, we are inclined to the view that the case is exactly in point. In that case the call was described as commencing at a point 60 rods west of the northeast corner of section 8, etc. According to the United States survey, as shown in this case, the section line did not run due west, as indicated by the true meridian, but diverged from the true west line to the north, so that the main question was as to the actual location on the face of the earth of the north line of the northeast quarter of section 8, and the question was whether or not the deed should be construed to mean west according to the true meridian or west according to the government survey. The same objection was made as is made here, that the call was unambiguous, and therefore that parol or extrinsic proof could not be received to explain the same.

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Bluebook (online)
273 P. 968, 73 Utah 316, 1929 Utah LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burgess-v-healey-utah-1929.