Keto v. Schaefer

29 Pa. D. & C.3d 637, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County
DecidedNovember 25, 1983
Docketno. volume 7
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Pa. D. & C.3d 637 (Keto v. Schaefer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keto v. Schaefer, 29 Pa. D. & C.3d 637, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

EPPINGER, P.J.,

Jorma and Julia Keto, plaintiffs, and James and Suzanne Schaefer and Thomas and Victoria Daley, defendants, are disputing title to a strip of land in Antrim Township, Franklin County, on what could be called the east side of the Ketos’ property and the west side of the Schaefer and Daley tracts. The Schaefers’ land lies to the north of the Daley property.

The strip of land includes a traveled lane leading to the Ketos’ house and outbuildings and beyond them and further to the south, a grass bed lane which does not show much sign of use. This is the part of the strip closest to the Keto buildings.

East of the lane is a small wooded ravine and at the bottom of the ravine there is a stream bed [638]*638which, when it contains water, flows from north to south. East of the stream there is evidence of an ancient wire fence. The Ketos contend this fence locates the boundary between their property and Schaefers and Daleys. The latter argue that the Ketos got only what their deed calls for and this puts the line west of the lane, excluding the Ketos from title to any part of the lane leading to their house and beyond the ravine.

As a part of the trial, we viewed the premises and the Ketos seemed to be in possession of at least the lane, if not the ravine to the old fence line. There is nothing in the Ketos’ deed which speaks of their right to use the lane which, to us, would have expressed the intention of the common grantor to deny them ownership of the lane. We do not suggest that the absence of such provision affects their right to use, regardless of the outcome of this case, but mention of such a right, if the lane is not on their property, would have been helpful in deciding this case.

As among these three parties, the Ketos are senior land owners. All three plots were subdivided from a tract originally owned by W. Maynard Brown. The Ketos purchased their property on October 10, 1975, by deed from John Erlewine, who was preceded in title by Walter Scott1 and Brown. James and Suzanne Schaefer purchased their property by deed dated June 26, 1972, from Myron Stone who was preceded in title by Bessie Lowery and Brown. Thomas and Victoria Daley acquired their tract on [639]*639August 7, 1981, by a deed from Irving Daley who was preceded in title by Roy Angle and Brown. The deed to Angle was made by Brown’s estate.

The Ketos contend that though the various deed descriptions have continued down, they do not accurately reflect the intention of Brown and the other parties. Jorma Keto reached this conclusion before he purchased his tract by doing a record check of the land he was going to buy and the adjoining properties. By drafting the descriptions out of Brown, Jorma found that there were no contiguous boundaries for any of the conveyances. Now the Ketos ask us to reform their deed contending that a mistake was made in their deed description from the original grantor, Brown.

On the one hand, the drafts of the courses and distances of the deeds of the Ketos and Schaefers with relation to the original Brown boundaries result in a gap between the property lines while the Schaefers’ deed recites that its westernmost line (the one adjoining Ketos’) probably overlaps Ketos’. So we are not helped much by the descriptions.

We were presented with expert evidence on both sides. The Ketos called T.D. Wilkinson III, an Associate Professor of Engineering at Mont Alto Campus, Pennsylvania State University. Wilkinson plotted the original Brown tract and then plotted the conveyances out of Brown and made overlays to demonstrate to the court exactly how many errors there were if plottings alone were relied upon. He demonstrated graphically the gap between the Keto line and the Schaefer and Daley lines and showed that at one point unaccounted in the Byers & Runyon survey, hereinafter mentioned, Brown left a corridor to reach lands now owned by Daley from the Cosey Town Road. This evidence further reinforces [640]*640our conclusion that the descriptions of' the real estate are not very helpful.

Schaefer and Daley employed Byers & Runyon who surveyed out the tract, starting with their understanding of the original Brown tract. They said they relied upon certain natural monuments still on the ground. These were largely rock outcroppings. They ignored the old fence line that Wilkinson said he believed was the line contended for by the Ketos and an iron pin found near the creek in line with the ancient fence. They had to stretch certain lines in order to get the Brown tract as a whole to close and to fit the tracts of Keto, Schaefer and Daley as they altered the descriptions into the Brown tract.

A significant change in a call that Byers & Runyon adopted was the move of one “point” on the Ketos’ deed from “a point 12 feet from the water’s edge”2. They adopted instead a point at least thirty feet from the creek. This is crucial since if they extended that line nearer the creek, then the next line, the boundary between Keto and Daley would come closer to the old fence line urged by Ketos and Wilkinson.3

Wilkinson talked to Walter Scott, the original grantee from Brown of the Keto tract and reported [641]*641that Scott said he walked the property line with Brown and that Brown told him the boundary line was the ancient fence. This ancient fence line was at the same location of the call from the westernmost line of the Schaefer deed and the same line as the westernmost boundary of the Daley deed if the Daley deed began nearer the creek. Wilkinson also found that the bearing of the ancient fence, the property line pointed out to him by Scott, is North 33 degrees East and the next line described by Scott has a bearing of North 48 degrees East and this is the same bearing mentioned in the Ketos’ deed as their easternmost property line.

Arguments presented to us take two directions. The Ketos argue that the whole matter is to be decided by the intention of the parties. Baker v. Roslyn Swim Club, 206 Pa. Super. 192, 198, 213 A.2d 145, 149 (1965). The Schaefers and Daleys say that we should follow traditional rules of priority for resolving ambiguous boundaries: (1) that monuments prevail over courses and distances except where the monuments are doubtful or in dispute and that monuments are incorporated along with maps or plats into the description and the location of the land may be determined by the plan; (2) that where there is a conflict between courses and distances and calls for adjoin ers, the latter will govern; and (3) where monuments or courses and distances are doubtful, quantity is a material factor in determining the intention of the parties. Howarth v. Miller, 382 Pa. 419, 115 A.2d 222 (1955); Baker v. Roslyn Swim Club, supra.

We agree with the Schaefers and Daleys that these rules should normally be applied. However, situations arise where it is neither possible nor expedient to do so. We think this is one of those situations.

[642]*642As in Howarth, supra, “the facts in this case are so unusual that they do not fall squarely within any of the established principles of law. . Id., at 423-424. In fact, the evidence in this case can lead us to but one clear conclusion, which is that errors were made which have resulted in the existing ambiguities.

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Related

Baker v. Roslyn Swim Club
213 A.2d 145 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)
Dallas Borough Annexation Case
82 A.2d 676 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1951)
Howarth v. Miller
115 A.2d 222 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1955)
Brolaskey v. McClain
61 Pa. 146 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1870)
Merlino v. Eannotti
110 A.2d 783 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1955)
Laflin Borough v. Yatesville Borough
422 A.2d 1186 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
29 Pa. D. & C.3d 637, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keto-v-schaefer-pactcomplfrankl-1983.