First Beat Entertainment, LLC v. Ecc, LLC

962 So. 2d 266, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 29, 2007 WL 80507
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 12, 2007
Docket2050819
StatusPublished

This text of 962 So. 2d 266 (First Beat Entertainment, LLC v. Ecc, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Beat Entertainment, LLC v. Ecc, LLC, 962 So. 2d 266, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 29, 2007 WL 80507 (Ala. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

962 So.2d 266 (2007)

FIRST BEAT ENTERTAINMENT, L.L.C.
v.
ECC, L.L.C.

2050819.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

January 12, 2007.

Stephen T. Etheredge of Buntin, Etheredge & Dowling, L.L.C., Dothan, for appellant.

*267 William L. Lee III and William W. Nichols of Lee & McInish Attorneys, P.C., Dothan, for appellee.

On Application for Rehearing

BRYAN, Judge.

The no-opinion affirmance of December 1, 2006, is withdrawn, and the following is substituted therefor.

First Beat Entertainment, L.L.C. ("First Beat"), appeals a judgment establishing the location of the boundary line between its property and the property owned by ECC, L.L.C. ("ECC"). We affirm.

First Beat owns a rectangular strip of property ("First Beat's property") in Section 26, Township 2 North, Range 26 East ("Section 26") in Houston County. The northern boundary of First Beat's property abuts a portion of the southern boundary of a parcel of property owned by ECC ("ECC's property"). Thus, First Beat's property and ECC's property share a common boundary line. The parties agree that the legal description of their common boundary line is the south line of the north half of the northeast quarter of Section 26, but they disagree regarding where the south line is physically located on the land. The eastern boundary of First Beat's property abuts the west right-of-way of U.S. Highway 231 ("the highway"), which runs generally north and south. Thus, the south line, which runs east and west, intersects with the west right-of-way of the highway. At a point south of the intersection of the south line and the west right-of-way of the highway ("the intersection") the course of the highway's west right-of-way shifts westward at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. The parties refer to that point as the "jog" in the west right-of-way of the highway. Since at least 1968, surveyors have used the jog as a landmark to assist them in locating the intersection.

First Beat erected a fence ("the fence") along what it contended was the location of the south line to keep ECC from trespassing on First Beat's property. Wanting to restore its ability to cross First Beat's property at will, ECC, in March 2004, sued First Beat, seeking an injunction requiring First Beat to remove the fence. First Beat answered and asserted a counterclaim. In its counterclaim, First Beat alleged that ECC was liable for damages for trespass and was liable for half of the cost of the fence pursuant to § 35-7-3, Ala. Code 1975.[1]

When it first filed its lawsuit, ECC did not contend that the fence was on its property. Consequently, the trial court, holding that a landowner has a right to erect a fence on his property, dismissed ECC's claim for an injunction requiring First Beat to remove the fence. First Beat's counterclaim remained pending.

After the dismissal of ECC's claim but before the adjudication of First Beat's counterclaim, First Beat moved the trial court to find ECC in contempt of the trial court's order dismissing ECC's claim because ECC had allegedly removed a portion of the fence. In response, ECC contended that at least a portion of the fence was on its property. Accordingly, the trial court ordered the parties to each nominate two registered surveyors as candidates for the trial court to consider in selecting a master to assist the trial court in determining *268 where the south line was located in relation to the fence. Both parties listed registered surveyor Rick Kinsaul as one of their two candidates, and the trial court appointed Rick Kinsaul to serve as the master.

In November 2005, Kinsaul completed his survey. According to Kinsaul's survey, approximately half of the fence was located along the south line, but approximately half was located north of the south line and, therefore, was on ECC's property.

On April 27, 2006, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing regarding the issue of where the south line was located in relation to the fence. At the hearing, the trial court received the testimony of Kinsaul and three other registered surveyors, John Steensland, Elijah Branton, and Burl Mercer. The trial court also received Kinsaul's survey, three other surveys, a map, and 11 deeds as evidence.

Kinsaul testified that he determined the location of the south line as follows. He did the field work necessary to physically locate the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 26, which is the western terminus of the south line. The location of that corner had been marked previously with an iron pipe. He also did the field work necessary to physically locate the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 26, which is the eastern terminus of the south line. That corner had also been marked previously with an iron pipe. He used the location of those two corners to determine the location of the south line, which connects those two corners. He testified that he did not locate the south line by retracing the original government survey of Section 26.[2] However, he verified his placement of the south line by checking his placement mathematically in relation to landmarks described in previous surveys of property in the vicinity of the south line and landmarks described in the legal descriptions of deeds to property situated in the vicinity of the south line.

The jog was one of the landmarks he used to verify the accuracy of his determination of the location of the south line. Kinsaul's determination of the location of the south line placed the intersection 156.20 feet north of the jog. John Steensland's 1980 survey of the property that later became ECC's property indicated that the intersection was 164.85 feet north of the jog. However, John Steensland's father, Maurice Steensland, had performed a survey in 1968, and his survey indicated that the intersection was 156 feet north of *269 the jog. Burl Mercer performed several surveys of property in the vicinity of the south line between 1970 and 1990. In those surveys, Mercer indicated that the intersection was 156 feet north of the jog. However, in 1990, Mercer's surveys of property in the vicinity of the south line began to indicate that the intersection was 165 feet north of the jog instead of 156 feet.

John Steensland testified that retracing the original government survey of the section as described in footnote 2, supra, is the protocol for determining the location of a line subdividing the section. However, Steensland further testified that, because the monuments established by the original government surveys often disappear with the passage of time, modern-day surveyors often must rely on earlier surveys in order to determine the location of a line subdividing the section instead of retracing the original government survey.

Steensland testified that he was uncertain where the south line was located after he performed his 1980 survey, and he remains uncertain today where the south line is located. Consequently, Steensland testified, he could not opine that Kinsaul's determination of the location of the south line was incorrect.

Elijah Branton, who had surveyed ECC's property before the lawsuit, testified that Kinsaul's survey correctly located the south line. He further testified that Kinsaul's survey was accurate in indicating that the intersection was 156.20 feet north of the jog.

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First Beat Entertainment, L.L.C. v. ECC, L.L.C.
962 So. 2d 266 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
962 So. 2d 266, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 29, 2007 WL 80507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-beat-entertainment-llc-v-ecc-llc-alacivapp-2007.