Eidman v. Goldsmith

941 P.2d 1045, 149 Or. App. 7, 1997 Ore. App. LEXIS 798
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided July 2, 1997·No. 93-3087-E-2; CA A88585·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

WARREN, P. J.

This boundary dispute concerns three adjacent landowners on the outskirts of Phoenix, Oregon, in Jackson County. Plaintiff brought this action to quiet title on two strips of land along the north and east boundaries of her property. The strips are included in the legal description of her parcel but lie outside the existing fencing on the property. The trial court dismissed plaintiffs case against defendants Jones, who owned the north adjoining property and sold it before trial, and entered judgment quieting title in favor of defendants Porras, the adjoining landowners on plaintiffs east side. The trial court also ordered the Porrases’ deed reformed. We review de novo, ORS 19.125(3); Hammack v. Olds, 93 Or App 161, 761 P2d 541 (1988), rev den 307 Or 303 (1989), and affirm.

Plaintiff purchased the property that is the subject of the present dispute. The parcel is one of four that were originally owned by Elsie Oliver1 and Marjorie and Allan Stewart (the Stewarts) as a common block. The parcels were sectioned off by fencing and those fences remain standing in the same location where they were originally erected.

Together, Oliver and the Stewarts purchased the tract of real property in 1967. In 1974, they divided the property into four lots and moved trailers onto the property with the intent of developing permanent home sites. Oliver testified that she and the Stewarts sectioned the property into four parcels by erecting fences, with everything inside the fence line considered as belonging to that parcel. She testified that, ‘We really were uncertain as to the exact property line area but this was agreeable between us.” She further testified that she and the Stewarts subsequently treated the fence lines as the boundary lines.

In 1983, Oliver and the Stewarts sold the first parcel to Woodwards and subsequently applied for a lot line adjustment. Oliver testified that they sought a lot line adjustment [10] “to have the measurements correspond exactly with the parcel inside each fence line.” After Jackson County approved the adjustment, a legal description for each parcel was prepared. Oliver and the Stewarts walked the property and measured the fence lines with a tape measure. They recorded the measurements and submitted them to a title company with instructions to prepare “new legal descriptions to correspond with the measurements.” The title company prepared the legal descriptions and re-recorded the corrected deeds. None of the deeds contained any reference to the fence lines.

In 1987, the Joneses purchased the parcel adjoining plaintiff’s parcel on the north side. Oliver testified that she walked the property with the Joneses before the sale and told them that the fence lines were the limit of their property. Similarly, Jack Jones testified that when he purchased the property he understood that the fence line marked the property boundary line. He testified that Oliver “wanted me to walk around the property with her to make sure I understood exactly what the perimeters of my property would be and what I was buying.” The Joneses’ deed did not refer to the fence lines.

Later, in 1988, the Porrases purchased the parcel that adjoins plaintiff’s parcel on the east. Again, Oliver testified that she told the Porrases that the fence lines marked the property boundary line. Patricia Porras testified that they walked the property lines with Oliver and believed that they were buying, “ [everything within the fence lines because the fence lines were walked, and I was shown everything within the fence lines.” The Porrases’ deed did not refer to the fence line.

Plaintiff purchased her parcel at an auction later in 1988. She did not review any legal documents or descriptions of the property beforehand and gained all of her knowledge about the property she now owns at the auction. Although she arrived late, she heard the broker’s announcements “about what was being sold,” and saw the fence lines. She testified that when she bought the property she did not care where the property lines actually were because she intended to have the property surveyed to establish the boundaries. Patricia Porras and Oliver also attended the auction. Both [11] testified that the broker announced, on a number of occasions, that “you were buying what you saw inside the fence lines.”

In 1993, plaintiff hired a surveyor to conduct a boundary survey. Comparing plaintiffs deed with the Porrases’ deed, the surveyor discovered that the legal descriptions overlapped in the northeast comer of plaintiffs parcel, taking in a part of the Porrases’ parcel. Moreover, the surveyor concluded that the existing fence lines on plaintiffs property on the north and east sides are inside the boundaries described in plaintiffs deed.

On the strength of that survey, plaintiff filed a complaint “in equity to quiet title,” naming the Joneses and the Porrases as defendants, seeking to quiet title in accordance with the legal description in her deed. Defendants answered and counterclaimed for a declaration that the existing fence lines were the true property boundaries between the respective properties under two theories: boundary by agreement and adverse possession.2 They also sought a reformation of each parties’ legal description to conform to the fence line boundary. After a trial to the court, the court entered judgment in favor of defendants Porras and dismissed the claim against defendants Jones, who had sold their property before trial. It declared the boundary line between plaintiffs property and the Porrases’ property, under the theory of boundary by agreement, to be the existing fence line and reformed the legal description of the property belonging to the Porrases accordingly. This appeal followed.

On appeal, plaintiff makes five assignments of error challenging the trial court’s dismissal of the Joneses (assignments one and two), and its quieting and reforming title in favor of the Porrases on the theory of boundary by agreement (assignments three through five).

Plaintiffs first two assignments have been resolved by an administrative order of this court. Before trial below, the Joneses sold their property to the Goldsmiths. Following [12] trial, but before oral argument here, the Goldsmiths moved to be substituted as successors in interest to the Joneses pursuant to ORAP 8.05(1); ORCP 34 E. We granted that motion and entered an order to that effect. It therefore follows that our disposition here is binding on the Goldsmiths.

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Eidman v. Goldsmith, 941 P.2d 1045, 149 Or. App. 7, 1997 Ore. App. LEXIS 798 (Or. Ct. App. 1997).

941 P.2d 1045 (Eidman v. Goldsmith) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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