Cecil v. Gagnebin

202 P.3d 1, 146 Idaho 714, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 12
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 22, 2009
Docket34412
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 202 P.3d 1 (Cecil v. Gagnebin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cecil v. Gagnebin, 202 P.3d 1, 146 Idaho 714, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 12 (Idaho 2009).

Opinion

EISMANN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment establishing a boundary by agreement on a motion for summary judgment and from a judgment awarding costs and attorney fees. There was an existing fence designating about one-half of the parties’ common boundary. The complaint alleged that the existing fence was presumed to have been erected based upon a boundary by agreement reached by the parties’ predecessors in interest. The issue of the location of the common boundary where there was no fence was not raised by the pleadings. Because the district court entered a judgment determining the location of the parties’ entire common boundary, including the portion where there was no fence, we vacate that portion of the judgment. We also vacate the judgment for costs and attorney fees.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

By a deed dated August 28, 1992, Michael and Tana Gagnebin (“Gagnebins”) purchased a house in Boise, Idaho. On April 2, 1993, Ronald and Darcy Cecil (“Cecils”) purchased the house on adjoining property. The parties’ respective properties have a common boundary that runs east and west, with the Cecils’ property being north of the Gagnebins’ property. At the time the parties purchased their respective houses, a chain link fence divided the back yards of their respective properties. The fence had been in existence since prior to 1977.

The chain link fence ran along the western half of the common boundary. In October 2005, the Gagnebins had the boundary surveyed because they intended to build a large garage near the eastern portion of the boundary. The survey revealed that the fence was located between eighteen inches and three feet south of the property line. On April 17, 2006, the Gagnebins removed a portion of the fence and- replaced it with a wooden fence located on the survey line.

On April 20, 2006, the Cecils filed this action alleging claims of quiet title, trespass, adverse possession, and boundary by agreement. All four causes of action alleged that the fence line marked the boundary.

On July 6, 2006, the Gagnebins filed an answer and a counterclaim seeking to require the Cecils to pay one-half of the cost of erecting the wooden fence. On motion of the Cecils, the district court dismissed the counterclaim by order entered on November 29, 2006.

The Cecils moved for summary judgment on January 8, 2007. Prior to the hearing on the motion, the Gagnebins contacted the Cecils and stated that they would stipulate to a judgment for the relief requested in the Cecils’ complaint. Counsel for the parties met in open court on February 5, 2007, and apparently agreed that the Gagnebins’ counsel would prepare the stipulated judgment by February 9, 2007. He failed to do so, and by letter dated February 20, 2007, the Cecils’ counsel mailed to the Gagnebins’ counsel a proposed stipulated judgment for signature by the parties’ counsel. When the Gagnebins’ counsel failed to sign the proposed judgment, the Cecils’ counsel signed it and sent it to the district court. The court signed the stipulated judgment even though neither the Gagnebins’ nor their counsel had signed it. The judgment was entered on March 8, 2007. 1 Both parties then sought an award of costs and attorney fees.

On April 4, 2007, the Cecils filed a motion to enforce the stipulated judgment. When the district court learned that the Gagnebins had not signed the stipulated judgment, it decided to grant the Cecils’ motion for summary judgment without a hearing. On April 30, 2007, the district court filed its memorandum decision granting the Cecils’ motion for *716 summary judgment. It held that the fence was presumed to mark a boundary by agreement and that the Gagnebins committed a trespass when they destroyed the chain link fence. The court ordered them to replace the fence with a proper enclosure. On April 30, 2007, the district court also entered an amended judgment determining the location of the entire length of the common boundary between the parties’ properties; ordering a survey with the cost to be split between the parties; requiring the Gagnebins to remove the fence they erected and place it where the chain link fence had been and to restore the Cecils’ property as it had been; and determining that the Cecils were the prevailing parties in this litigation.

On May 8, 2007, the Cecils filed a motion to modify the amended judgment on the ground that the court incorrectly described the parties’ common boundary east of the fence. On June 12, 2007, the district court issued a second amended judgment describing the boundary east of the fence as requested by the Cecils. The Gagnebins timely appealed.

While the Cecils’ motion to amend the judgment was pending, the district court entered an order on May 14, 2007, awarding the Cecils costs in the sum of $1,327.09 and attorney fees pursuant to Idaho Code § 12-121 in the sum of $12,000. The court entered a judgment for the costs and attorney fees on May 14, 2007.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

1. Did the district court err in granting a summary judgment determining the parties’ common boundary east of the fence?

2. Did the Gagnebins timely appeal from the judgment awarding costs and attorney fees?

3. Are the Cecils entitled to an award of attorney fees on appeal pursuant to Idaho Code § 12-121?

III. ANALYSIS

A. Did the District Court Err in Granting a Summary Judgment Determining the Parties’ Common Boundary East of the Pence?

In an appeal from an order of summary judgment, this Court’s standard of review is the same as the standard used by the trial court in ruling on a motion for summary judgment. Infanger v. City of Salmon, 137 Idaho 45, 46-47, 44 P.3d 1100, 1101-02 (2002). All disputed facts are to be construed liberally in favor of the non-moving party, and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the record are to be drawn in favor of the non-moving party. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Id. If the matter will be tried to the court rather than the jury, the judge is free to determine what reasonable inferences should be drawn from the undisputed facts. Union Pac. Corp. v. Idaho State Tax Comm’n, 139 Idaho 572, 575, 83 P.3d 116, 119 (2004). Since this case was to be tried by the court rather than a jury, the district judge was free to draw reasonable inferences from the undisputed facts.

In its memorandum decision, the district court granted summary judgment based upon the doctrine of boundary by agreement. “Boundary by agreement or acquiescence has two elements: (1) there must be an uncertain or disputed boundary and (2) a subsequent agreement fixing the boundary.”

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Bluebook (online)
202 P.3d 1, 146 Idaho 714, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cecil-v-gagnebin-idaho-2009.