Haan, D. and P. v. Wells, J.

103 A.3d 60, 2014 Pa. Super. 226, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3431, 2014 WL 5018462
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 8, 2014
Docket1895 MDA 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by81 cases

This text of 103 A.3d 60 (Haan, D. and P. v. Wells, J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haan, D. and P. v. Wells, J., 103 A.3d 60, 2014 Pa. Super. 226, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3431, 2014 WL 5018462 (Pa. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION BY

WECHT, J.:

D. Scot Haan and Patrice Amity Haan (“the Haans”) appeal the trial court’s October 11, 2013 order. In that order, the trial court denied the Haans’ motion for post-trial relief and entered final judgments on the matter. We affirm.

In a memorandum opinion issued in support of the denial of the Haans’ post-trial motions, the trial court set forth the factual and procedural history of this case as follows:

[Appellants], D. [Scot] Haan and Patrice Amity Haan (“the Haans”), and [Appel-lees], John A. Wells, Jr., and his wife, Susan A. Wells (“the Wells”), are the owners of contiguous rural properties in Newton Township and Ransom Township, whose chains of title are traceable to the James Davis Warrant and the Stephen King Warrant that were conveyed by William Penn in the late 1700’s. (Transcript of Proceeding (“T.P.”) on 1/7/13 at pp. 98-99, 101; T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 18, 21, 22, 25-27, 34-35, 37-38, 40-41, 51; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 1-5, 11; Defendants’ Exhibit Nos. D1A-D1E). The Haans commenced this action against the Wells seeking to enjoin them from entering or encroaching upon two parcels that their surveyor, George Dunda (“Dunda”), identified as Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area # 2 on his survey. (T.P. 1/7/13 at pp. 69-70, 73, 89, 100, 103-105, 108; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 6, 19). Although mislabeled as new matter rather than a counterclaim, the Wells also requested affirmative relief via a trespass claim, and sought to compel the Haans to re *62 move a gate barrier and signs that they erected on separate land which is designated as Parcel # 2 on the survey prepared by John M. Hennemuth (“Henne-muth”). (Docket Entry No. 3 at ¶¶ 13-20, T.P. 1/7/13 at pp. 132,135-37; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 18, 24; Defendants’ Exhibit Nos. D2A-G).
Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area # 2 are relevant to the Haans’ direct claim, whereas Parcel No. 1 and Parcel No. 2 are pertinent only to the Wells’ counterclaim. The parties’ surveyors both agreed that due to discrepancies in the metes and bounds descriptions contained in the original deeds for the James Davis Warrant and Stephen King Warrant, the boundaries of the land conveyed in those two Warrants overlap and create areas of “interference” that were first identified in a survey that Dunning Engineering Company conducted for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (“AT & T”) in 1953. (T.P. 1/7/13 at pp. 92-93; T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 25-27, 33-35, 37-38, 40-41, 51). The survey calculations by Dunda and Hennemuth relating to that area of interference differ by 795 feet. (T.P. 1/7/13 at pp. 88-89).
In connection with the Haans’ direct claim, Dunda prepared a survey designating Encroachment Area # 1 as reflecting the 23.41 acre encroachment involving the Stephen King Warrant, and Encroachment Area # 2 as depicting the 5.18 acre encroachment implicating the John King Warrant. (Id. at pp. 89,103-105; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 6-7). Conversely, Hennemuth’s survey focuses upon Parcel No. 1 (97.74 acres) and Parcel No. 2 (116.46 acres) which were conveyed to the Wells family by Andrew Walukus (“Walukus”) on November 18, 1920 and July 2, 1924. (T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 27-28, 53, 86-87; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 9-18, 24): Dunda’s survey does not address the Wells’ counterclaim regarding Parcel No. 2, and the Haans’ counsel conceded at trial that Dunda “didn’t ... give any opinion whatsoever as to the property being claimed by Wells” in the counterclaim. (T.P. 1/7/13 at p. 119).
The Haans established that they own 71 acres and 55 pieces of property by virtue of a series of conveyances involving the Catherine Evans tract. (Plaintiffs’ Exhibit Nos. 1-5, 11). Dunda surveyed that property on behalf of the Haans. (T.P. 1/7/13 at pp. 74/84, 97-98), and concluded that Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area # 2 are situated on the Haans’ land. (Id. at pp. 89, 103-105). [Appellee] John A. Wells, Jr. testified that he and other members of his family have hunted on Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area # 2. (Id. at pp. 158-60). However,' [Wells] admitted during his testimony that he does not claim ownership of that particular land. (Id. at pp. 145-52). [Appellant] D. [Scot] Haan testified that he filed this suit in order to bar the Wells from continuing to trespass upon Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area # 2.
The Wells’ trial evidence primarily focused upon Parcel No. 2 and the Haans’ trespass on that land. (T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 131-140,143,145,149-151). John A. Wells, Jr., testified that he owns Parcel No. 2 and pays real estate taxes for that land. (Id. at pp. 131, 145-46). Wells stated that he and his family have used Parcel No. 2 to hunt, ride all-terrain vehicles and pick berries, (Id. at pp. 131-132), but that Mr. Haan has now erected a gate blocking an access road and posted “private property” signs on that land without the Wells’ permission. 1 (Id. at pp. 132-136, 143). D. [Scot] .Haan admitted during his testimony that he installed a gate barrier on the access *63 road in Parcel No. 2, and also posted “private property” signs on that property. (T.P. 1/7/13, pp. 109-114).
The Wells also presented the expert testimony of Hennemuth, who has been a licensed professional surveyor since 1976 and has conducted “many, many surveys” in Newton and Ransom Townships, including surveys of properties that are contiguous to the parties’ lands and which involve the James Davis Warrant, the Stephen King Warrant, the Methias Keppling Warrant, the Adam Schrack Warrant, the William Smith Warrant, and the John King Warrant. (T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 14-16, 18, 21-22, 114-115). Hennemuth opined that due to inaccuracies in the metes and bounds descriptions in the deeds for the James Davis Warrant and Stephen King Warrant, and the imprecision of early surveys of the rugged terrain comprising those Warrants, the boundaries of that land overlap and have created areas of “interference,” which are designated as Encroachment Area # 1 and Encroachment Area #2 on the Dunda survey. {Id. at pp. 25-27, 33-35, 37-38, 40-41, 51).
Unlike Dunda, Hennemuth devoted most of his trial testimony to Parcel #2 where the Haans have erected a gate barrier and posted signs based upon their claim of ownership of that land. Hennemuth stated that the “vaguely written description” of the property that the Wells’ predecessor-in-title, Andrew Walukus, conveyed to the Wells family in 1920 and 1924 is attributable, to an unreliable survey that was conducted with the Warrant Deed to James Davis on September 17, 1794. {Id. at pp. 61, 64-65). Those inaccuracies were later compounded by Lackawanna County’s conveyance of 312 acres to Andrew Wa-lukus via a deed which contains no metes and bounds description. {Id. at pp. 85, 87; Plaintiffs’ Exhibit No. 10). The dimensions of the parties’ properties were further complicated by the flawed boundary line designation for Newton Township and Ransom Township, as reflected in the 1903 survey by George Stephenson. (T.P. 2/27/13 at pp. 75-76, 80-81).

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Bluebook (online)
103 A.3d 60, 2014 Pa. Super. 226, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3431, 2014 WL 5018462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haan-d-and-p-v-wells-j-pasuperct-2014.