Mendel v. Poland

166 N.W. 910, 200 Mich. 571, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 870
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 27, 1918
DocketDocket No. 109
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 166 N.W. 910 (Mendel v. Poland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mendel v. Poland, 166 N.W. 910, 200 Mich. 571, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 870 (Mich. 1918).

Opinion

Kuhn, J.

The plaintiff is the owner and occupant of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 19, in the township of Norton in Muskegon county. A public highway, surveyed and laid out with a width of 66" feet, runs along the north side of plaintiff’s farm on the eighth line of the section, and another along the east side of her property on the section line. In the year 1915 plaintiff tore down the old, dilapidated fencing along the north and east sides of her farm and constructed strong and substantial fences on both of said sides. The one on the north side; according to the testimony of the township officials, encroaches about seven feet, and the one on the east side about eleven feet, upon the highways respectively adjoining.

On September 12, 1916, the defendant, who is the commissioner of highways for the township of Norton, made' two orders requiring the plaintiff to remove, within 30 days, the said encroaching fences. On November 8, 1916, plaintiff filed a bill to enjoin the defendant from forcibly removing these fences, alleging as the ground for her bill that the land enclosed thereby, which is claimed to be a part of the highway,

_ “Is the property of this plaintiff by adverse possession, she being the owner thereof and the right of her fences established upwards of 40 years ago, and her righf^and title have ripened by adverse possession into absolute title thereto and cannot be disturbed by the said highway commissioner by his threatened action, and her right to continue fences on said highways at [573]*573the places aforesaid has become fixed and established so far as this threatened action of the defendant is concerned.”

Upon the filing of her bill a temporary injunction was issued restraining defendant from tearing down, destroying or removing said fences, and after a full hearing of the case the circuit judge entered a decree in favor of plaintiff, making the injunction permanent.

The testimony showed that one Ezra E. Tyler, a former owner, was the man who cleared the farm and built the first fences; that he gave two rods off the north of the farm for highway purposes; that the surveyor who surveyed the road showed him where the corner was, and he built the fence according to that line along the north of his farm; that he set out a row of trees, inside this fence; that he also set out a row of trees, along the east side of the farm and built a barb wire fence along that side about two feet outside the row of trees; that he had recently, inspected the present fences, and they appeared to be located where the fences he built were located; that he sold the farm in 1883 or 1884. It further appeared that a Mr. DeVries, who later bought the place and moved on to it in 1891, found the old fences built by Mr. Tyler in a dilapidated condition; that he made some repairs to the north fence, and also ran some ' barb wire on the row of trees running parallel thereto to make a lane through which to drive cattle; that the outside fence was 7 or 8 feet from the row of trees; that a portion of the fence on the east side was down, and instead of putting in new posts, he tacked the wires onto the trees that stood a foot or two inside the fence line; that the old fence went clear around the place; that the new fence built by Mrs. Mendel appeared to be in the same place as the old fence. Plaintiff’s son, Walter Mendel, testified that [574]*574he built the new fence on the line of the old, except that he removed the wires nailed to the trees on the east side of the farm and put in posts and replaced the fence about where the old one was originally- built. Mrs. Mendel bought the farm in 1910 and moved onto it in the spring of 1911.

Defendant and his two witnesses, former township officers, did not contradict the above testimony, except that they claimed that the old fence on the north line was crooked and that Mendel built the new fence on a straight line, thereby enclosing from one to three feet more of the highway; also that at the corner where the two highways intersected, he had run the corner post about four feet into the traveled part of the highway. As to this latter point, Mendel claimed the corner post was where the old one had been and that the traffic had been gradually encroaching on their property since the corner of the old fence went down.

The defense introduced testimony and elicited admissions tending to show that until recently little attention had been paid in that locality to highway lines; that fences were not constructed with reference to them; that many owners cultivated almost up to the traveled portion of the highways ; and that such fences as had been constructed, most of which were old, were erected for the purpose of keeping in stock, etc., and not with any idea of asserting a claim of ownership' to the fence line. As to the north fence, Mr. Tyler testified, on cross-examination:

“I designed to give two rods for my share of the highway.
“Q. (by plaintiffs attorney) As indicated by Mr. Porter, the surveyor?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. (by defendant’s attorney) Well, whether Mr. Porter indicated or not, you intended to give two rods for the highway, didn’t you?
[575]*575“A. I suppose I would do what other people — I am a law abiding citizen and do what other people do.”

And Mr. DeVries, on cross-examination, admitted:

“Q. You didn’t know, did you, where the lines were?
“A. No, sir, we didn’t bother with it. No one ever brought any complaints.
“Q. And you never knew whether they were on the lines or off the lines ?
“A. No, sir, we didn’t know anything about it.
$ ‡ $
“Q. You never made any claim, you or your father, did you—
“A. No, sir.
“Q. —that you could hold that line as against the public and the highway.
“A. Why, no, we didn’t know. We kept the fence right there.”

Moreover, a former highway commissioner, Mr. Jacob Bosma, testified to the following conversation with Mr. Derk DeVries, the father of the last named witness, and at that time the owner of the farm:

“I know Mr. DeVries. I remember having a conversation with him at one time in regard to this fence on the north side of the place. It was right by the farm. He was fixing up the fence, was building it, and I asked him if he wasn’t out in the road. He said he didn’t know, but he said, ‘I am just fixing it up for a lane to let my cows down. I don’t think it will do any harm.’ He said, ‘It will be tore down, probably, in a year or two.’ I told him I didn’t know as it would. I was highway commissioner at that time.”

As to the fence on the east side, on cross-examination, after going over the condition and location thereof, witness Walter Mendel testified:

“Q. And that constituted the fence enclosing the place, did it not, so far as there was one?
“A. Why, it was there. We didn’t consider it any more than to keep things out, that is, in the line of stock. It was simply there.

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Related

City of Detroit v. F. L. Lowrie Lumber & Finish Co.
246 N.W. 51 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 N.W. 910, 200 Mich. 571, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 870, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mendel-v-poland-mich-1918.