Harborview Condominium Ass'n v. Pinard

603 A.2d 872
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedFebruary 28, 1992
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 603 A.2d 872 (Harborview Condominium Ass'n v. Pinard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harborview Condominium Ass'n v. Pinard, 603 A.2d 872 (Me. 1992).

Opinion

GLASSMAN, Justice.

The defendants, Roland and Eileen Pi-nard and Julian and Delian Lagueux, appeal from the judgment entered in the Superior Court (York County, Brennan, J.) affirming the judgment of the District Court (Springvale, Gaulin, J.) that established the location of the common boundary between land situated in Wells owned by the defendants and that owned by the plaintiff Harborview Condominium Association. We find no clear error in the District Court’s location of the common boundary, and we affirm the judgment.

As designated on the sketch attached to this opinion as Appendix A, the Pinards are the owners of lots A and C and the La-gueuxs are the owners of lots B and D. The dispute is over the location of the eastern boundary of land owned by Har-borview and the western boundary of the land owned by the Pinards and the La-gueuxs. By its complaint Harborview sought to establish that the location of the boundary was 130 feet westerly of the westerly boundary of Atlantic Avenue and also sought damages for the defendants’ alleged trespass on property claimed by Harborview. The defendants filed an answer and a counterclaim for trespass. After a hearing, the District Court determined that “[t]he existing monuments (granite marker and iron pins) called for in the deeds for the Defendants ‘rear’ lots and as shown/depicted on various plans ... establish the location of the disputed line as being that asserted by Plaintiff.” A judgment was entered accordingly with judgment for the defendants on Harbor-view’s claim for damages. The Superior Court affirmed the judgment of the District Court, and the defendants appeal.

In boundary disputes “[w]hat the boundaries are, as ascertained from the language of a deed, is a question of law; where these boundaries are on the face of the earth is a question of fact.” Conary v. Perkins, 464 A.2d 972, 975 (Me.1983); see also Liebler v. [873]*873Abbott, 388 A.2d 520, 521 (Me.1978) (quoting Rusha v. Little, 309 A.2d 867, 869 (Me.1973)); Perkins v. Jacobs, 124 Me. 347, 349, 129 A. 4, 5 (1925). The rule is well settled that the land of an adjacent owner is a monument, see Edmonds v. Becker, 434 A.2d 1012, 1013 (Me.1981), and “boundaries are controlled, in descending priority, by monuments, courses, distances, and quantity, unless this priority produces absurd results.” Theriault v. Murray, 588 A.2d 720, 722 (Me.1991). “The physical disappearance of a monument does not end its use in defining a boundary if its former location can be ascertained.” Id. Because the location of monuments is a question of fact, the trial court’s findings as to such locations will not be disturbed on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous. Ricci v. Godin, 523 A.2d 589, 592 (Me.1987).

The Mathews family (Mathews) was the common grantor to the parties’ predecessors in title. It is undisputed that the foundation deeds of the Pinards and the Lagueuxs predate that of Harborview. Mathews owned all the property of the parties at the time the western boundary of Atlantic Avenue was established in 1923. The location of that boundary is not disputed. Ten years later Mathews conveyed lot A (presently owned by the Pinards), described as having its beginning at a point on the westerly line of Atlantic Avenue and being a “tract of land which is fifty (50) feet on said Atlantic Avenue and extending westerly, holding the same width, a distance back of eighty (80) feet.” Iron hubs were identified in the deed as marking the southeast, southwest and northwest corners of that lot.

In 1948, by two separate deeds, Mathews conveyed lot C (presently owned by the Pinards), a parcel presently 50 feet by 50 feet in dimension. The first deed described the conveyed property as follows:

Beginning at the Northwesterly comer of [lot A], said comer being the Northeasterly comer of the land herein conveyed, thence mnning in a Northwesterly direction, and on the same course as the Northerly line of [lot A], Forty (40) feet; thence turning at a right angle and in a Southwesterly direction and mnning Fifty (50) feet; Thence turning at right angle and in a Southeasterly direction and mnning Forty (40) feet to the Southwesterly comer of [lot A]; thence turning at right angle and mnning in a Northeasterly direction fifty (50) feet by [lot A] to the point of beginning.

The additional westerly 10 feet conveyed by Mathews the following month was described as:

Beginning at the Northwesterly corner of other land of said grantee, and mn-ning in a Northwesterly direction, on the same course as the Northerly line of Pot A] and other land of said grantee, ten (10) feet; thence turning at right angle and running in a Southwesterly direction Fifty (50) feet; thence turning at right angle and running in a Southeasterly direction Ten (10) feet to the Southwesterly comer of other land of said Grantee; thence turning at right angle and mn-ning in a Northeasterly direction by other land of said Grantee Fifty (50) feet to the point of beginning.

A granite marker located at the southwest comer of lot C was acknowledged by the original grantee of Lot C to in fact mark the southwest comer of that lot. By reason of these three deeds to the Pinards’ predecessor in title, the Pinards now own a single lot comprised of lots A and C. Every deed in the Pinards’ title chain contains a description that is consistent with a finding that the Pinards own a lot beginning at the westerly boundary of Atlantic Avenue and mnning westward 130 feet. Accordingly, the trial court properly determined that the Pinards have no claim to land in the disputed area.

There is no dispute that the three iron hubs marking the southeast, southwest and northwest comers of lot A still existed in October 1962. Lot B (presently owned by Lagueux), identical in dimension to lot A, was conveyed by Mathews in 1947 and was described as follows:

Beginning at the Northeasterly comer of Pot A], said comer being the Southeasterly comer of the land herein conveyed, and mnning in a Westerly direction by Pot A] Eighty (80) feet; thence turning [874]*874and running Northerly and Parallel with Atlantic Avenue, Fifty (50) feet; thence turning and running in an Easterly direction, and parallel with the first mentioned line, Eighty (80) feet to Atlantic Avenue; thence turning and running in a Southerly direction by Atlantic Avenue Fifty (50) feet to the point of beginning.

The Lagueuxs’ claim to ownership of a portion of the disputed area arises from the distance calls in the deed description of lot D. They contend that such description establishes that their single lot, comprised of lots B and D, extends westerly 143 feet from the westerly boundary of Atlantic Avenue. In October 1957, Mathews by a single deed conveyed lots D and E to the original grantee of lot B.1 In that deed, lot D was described as follows:

Beginning at the Southwesterly corner of [lot B], and running thence Northerly 82° 18' 30" W.

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603 A.2d 872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harborview-condominium-assn-v-pinard-me-1992.