Savage v. Armstrong

156 Iowa 473
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedSeptember 2, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 156 Iowa 473 (Savage v. Armstrong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savage v. Armstrong, 156 Iowa 473 (iowa 1912).

Opinion

McClain, C. J.

This- controversy relates to a boundary line running east and west between the W. y2 of the N. W. y^ of section 2 and the E. y2 of the N. W. % of section 3, all in township 88, range 29, in Webster county, on the south, and a tract of land belonging to defendant Armstrong and others on the north. The details of ownership and source of title to these three tracts need not be fully set out, in order to enable us to determine the questions presented on this appeal. It is 'sufficient to say that the plaintiff J. C. Savage is the owner in his own right of the west eighty above described, having acquired title thereto through his mother in 1903. She had bought it from one Mooney in 1899 and Mooney had been the owner for many years' prior to that date. The plaintiffs, including . J. C- Savage, are the owners in common of the east eighty above described, which was-purchased by Michael Savage, father of J. C. Savage, in 1878, and has been occupied by him, and after his death by his widow, Jane Savage, and certain of his heirs, brothers of J. C. Savage, until the present time. The controversy between' these plaintiffs and the defendant, who own or have interests in the tract of land adjoining the two eighty’s on the north, arose in the fall of 1910, when the defendants, [475]*475through their agents and employees; attempted to erect a new fence on a line somewhat south of the line of an old fence, which had for many years been maintained by plaintiffs and their grantors and the owners of the land to the north of them. Plaintiffs do not ask that their title be quieted to the strip between the two fences, but they seek an injunction to - restrain defendants from erecting and maintaining a new fence, and they also ask that the new fence, as partially constructed, and the material to be employed in its construction, be removed from their land. The effect of the decree of the lower court is, however, to establish the true boundary line, and no doub't is as effectual in determining the title of plaintiffs to the strip of land between the old fence and the new fence as though a decree quieting title in plaintiffs to such strip had been expressly asked. In this respect there is no complaint as to the form of the decree. It is conceded that there is a misjoinder of plai.ntiffs, inasmuch as there is no common ownership of plaintiffs in the west eighty, on the one hand, which belongs exclusively to pláintiff J. C. Savage, and the east eighty, which belongs exclusively to Jane Savage and other plaintiffs, as widow and heirs of Michael Savage; but, although the question of misjoinder was properly raised by defendants, it has been agreed that the cause shall be determined without regard to such misjoinder. The sole question presented is whether the lower court erred in granting the relief prayed by all the plaintiffs as against the defendants.

x‘ acquiescence: evidence. It is the contention of the plaintiffs that, without regard to the exact location of the boundary line according to the government survey' between their two eighties and the land of defendants lying to the north of them, a boundary line has been established by the joint maintenance and repair of a fence, which has existed for more than twenty years, between the properties, and that this fence has, by aq[476]*476quiescence, become the true boundary line. Without setting out the evidence in detail, we are satisfied to sustain the conclusion, announced by the lower court, that this fence had been acquiesced in as marking the boundary line for such length of time as that it must be treated as constituting the true boundary line by an implied agreement, unless, for reasons hereafter to be referred to, the plaintiffs are now estopped from insisting that it shall be so treated. The proof of acquiescence for many years, based upon the maintenance ánd .repair of this fence and occupancy of the land to the line thus indicated, is overwhelming. It is true that there seems to have been a controversy between the owners of the land lying east of the east eighty and the owners of the land adjoining it on the north as to whether the fence between them, which was a continuation of the old fence between the lands of the parties to this suit, was on the true line, and that the portion of the fence to the east on the east eighty has been so changed as to create a jog. But we regard this fact to be in itself'wholly immaterial. No concessions between other parties as to the continuance of the old fence to the east could affect these plaintiffs. There is testimony as to certain conversations between Michael Savage, then owning the east eighty, and those interested in the location of the fence to the east of his land, tending to indicate an uncertainty on the part of Michael Savage as to whether the old fence was the true line; and there is similar evidence tending to show an uncertainty on the part of Mooney, who owned the west eighty, as to whether the fence as it existed north of his eighty was on the true line. But this evidence falls short of establishing any intention on the part of Michael Savage and Mooney to abandon the claim, which must be implied from the maintenance of the fence for a long time and the occupancy of the land up to the fence as the true boundary, that such fence was the real boundary between their respective eighties and the land to the north; for no [477]*477question seems to have been entertained at any time between either Mooney or Michael Savage, on the one hand, and the owners of the land, on the other, as to the fact that this fence was on the true line.

It is true, as contended for appellants, that the inference arising from ten years’ acquiescence in a boundary fence and occupancy with reference to such fence as the true line may be overcome by proof of other controlling circumstances inconsistent with and contradicting the inference of acquiescence. Miller v. Mills County, 111 Iowa, 654. But, if there are no controlling circumstances sufficient to overcome the inference from acquiescence — that is, if it does not appear that the fence maintained by the parties was so maintained with the understanding that it did not constitute the true boundary line, and occupancy has been apparently with reference to such fence as the boundary line — then the presumption from acquiescence is sufficient to determine the boundary line in controversy. Keller v. Harrison, 139 Iowa, 383. As we find no controlling circumstances such as to overcome the presumption from long acquiescence, we are satisfied that prior to the origin of this controversy the old fence had become established as the true boimdary line. The evidence does not support the contention of appellants that the old fence was a mere tentative affair and the case of Webster v. Shrine Temple Co., 141 Iowa, 325, is not in point.

2 Sameestoppei. Counsel for appellants contend, however, that, irrespective of the question of acquiescence, the record shows that the plaintiffs are estopped by their conduct from now claiming that the new fence, partially constructed by appellants, and which they are by 'the decree enjoined from completing or maintaining, is not on the true line. This contention is based upon the alleged conduct of plaintiff J. C. Savage, owner of the west eighty in his own right and owner in common with his mother and his brothers and sisters of the east eighty. The [478]

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156 Iowa 473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savage-v-armstrong-iowa-1912.