Wideman v. Faivre

163 P. 619, 100 Kan. 102, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 271
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 10, 1917
DocketNo. 20,696
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 163 P. 619 (Wideman v. Faivre) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wideman v. Faivre, 163 P. 619, 100 Kan. 102, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 271 (kan 1917).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

DAWSON, J.:

This lawsuit grows out of a controversy between neighboring landowners over a hedge fence. About 1876 the plaintiff, Eugenie Wideman, with the aid of her children and a neighbor planted a hedge fence one hundred and sixty rods long-, east and west, near the surveyed line between her land and the defendants’ land which bounded hers on the north. The hedgerow was planted in a plowed furrow about one foot south of a direct line between the corner stones* which had been set by government surveyors some years prior thereto. Thus the hedgerow was entirely on plaintiff’s land. The plaintiff and her children cultivated the hedge until it attained sufficient growth to care for itself. Thereafter she cut the weeds on the south side of it and the defendants cut the weeds on the north side.

About 1883 or 1884, the hedge being insufficient to turn live stock, the plaintiff and defendants placed two strands of wire and fence posts in the hedgerow, the plaintiff placing the wire and posts for eighty rods in the easterly half of the hedge, and the defendants doing likewise in the westerly half of the hedge for eighty rods.

The hedge was never cut or laid, but permitted to grow into trees, and in January, 1915, the plaintiff commenced at the west end of the hedgerow to cut down the hedge trees. Thereupon the defendants likewise began to cut down the hedge trees, beginning at the middle of the half mile of it and working westward. Hence this lawsuit. The plaintiff prayed for damages for the value of the hedge trees cut down and con[104]*104verted by defendants, and for an injunction.. Defendant Adrian Faivre disclaimed, and Lester Faivre answered that the hedge fence was on the dividing line between plaintiff’s and defendants’ land, that the hedge fence was planted about 1882 by plaintiff and himself, she furnishing the plants and he doing the plowing and assisting in setting them out; that he and plaintiff both cultivated the hedgerow. He further alleged: ,

“That at the time said hedge plants were set out it was mutually-agreed and understood by and between the plaintiff and this answering defendant, that when the hedge was set out it was to be the line fence separating plaintiff’s and this answering defendant’s fence.
“That said hedge fence was set out about the year eighteen eighty-two or three and has remained on the line between said farms ever since.
“That for more than thirty years the plaintiff as well as the defendant, has treated the fence as upon the line. That during all that time she has acquiesced in and governed herself according to said parol agreement. That in law and equity and in good conscience, she is now estopped from claiming that said hedge is not situated upon the true line separating the plaintiff’s and this answering defendant’s farm.”

The trial court made special findings and found all the material issues in favor of plaintiff and enjoined the defendants from further meddling with the hedge trees.

Various errors are assigned which will be noted in the order of their presentation.

The first of these relates to the testimony of a witness touching the value of the hedge'trees cut down by defendants. Since the total amount recovered by plaintiff on this account was only $65, there is some question about the propriety of its review here, our jurisdiction on mere recoveries of money being limited to sums exceeding $100. (Civ. Code, § 566.) But laying that aside, the objection below was thus stated:

[Counsel-for defendants] “Now, if the court please, we move to strike out the witness’s testimony about there being $100 damage done.
“The Court: The motiqn to strike out will be overruled.”

This general objection did not disclose any reason for the motion to strike out the testimony, and no impropriety or insufficiency was apparent in the evidence objected to. The motion was therefore properly overruled. Professor Wigmore well says: '

“The cardinal principle (no sooner repeated by courts than it is [105]*105forgotten by counsel) is that a general objection, if overruled, can not avail.” (1 Wigmore on Evidence, § 18, citing eases.)

It is next contended that—

“There is not one syllable of evidence . . . showing that Eugenie Wideman instructed one James Hodgins . . . that he should run that furrow one foot or any distance whatever squth of the monument stone,” etc.

Hodgins was the neighbor who helped Mrs. Wideman and her children to set out the hedge plants. He plowed the furrow. It is true, as defendants contend, that there is no evidence that Mrs. Wideman instructed him about how the work should be performed or where it should be performed. These people were farmers. When their neighbors turn in to help them with farm work, it is not common — indeed it would be extraordinary — for the party receiving this neighborly assistance, with or without payment therefor, to issue instructions like a train dispatcher to a train crew, or the manager of a large business to his employees. Country folks would consider such formality as rank affectation. The trial court’s use of the word was merely part of the text of its finding that the furrow was plowed by neighbor Hodgins about a foot from and within Mrs. Wideman’s boundary line agreeable to her wishes. There was no lack of evidence to that effect. Defendants’ contention on this point is hypercritical and lacks substantial merit.

The next contention is that the evidence shows that the hedge was planted on the true line between the lands of plaintiff and defendants. There being some evidence to support the trial court’s findings that it was planted about a foot south of the true line, that proposition is concluded. (U. P. R. W. Co. v. Coldwell, 5 Kan. 82; Humphrey v. Investment Co., 98 Kan. 266, 158 Pac. 42.) The same rule forecloses the question whether Mrs. Wideman and her children and her neighbor planted the hedge about 1876 or whether Mrs. Wide-man and defendant Lester Faivre jointly planted it about 1882, and similarly disposes of the question whether there was an understanding and agreement between Faivre and Mrs. Wide-man about the hedge or for a division of it.

The doctrine of estoppel is next invoked, on the ground that the parties treated the hedge fence as a division line for over [106]*106thirty years. That doctrine is sound and well supported by authorities (Tarpenning v. Cannon, 28 Kan. 665) ; but the findings of fact based upon the issues which the parties sought to submit, and which negative the defendants’ contention that the parties treated the hedge as a division fence or that there was any parol agreement thereto or acquiescence therein, preclude its operation here.

Counsel for defendants - propound this query: “Mrs. Wide-man says she entered into no contract in regard to the fence, the defendant says she did, what shall the court do ?” That is easily answered.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Love v. Klosky
2016 COA 131 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2016)
Duncan v. Duncan
672 S.W.2d 765 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1984)
Star Lumber & Supply Co. v. Mills
349 P.2d 892 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1960)
Jurgens v. Wiese
38 N.W.2d 261 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1949)
Harrison v. Lanoway
52 S.E.2d 264 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1949)
Crawford v. Crawford
181 P.2d 526 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1947)
Snyder v. Lassen
138 P.2d 274 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1943)
Weisel v. Hobbs
294 N.W. 448 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1940)
Campbell v. Ramsey
92 P.2d 819 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1939)
Ætna Life Ins. v. Conway
102 F.2d 743 (Tenth Circuit, 1939)
Stalcup v. Stalcup
19 P.2d 447 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1933)
Medill v. McIntire
16 P.2d 952 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1932)
Solomon v. Lampl
11 P.2d 1028 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1932)
Gibson v. Enright
9 P.2d 971 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1932)
City of Fort Scott v. Brown
300 P. 1093 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1931)
State Bank v. Gonder
296 P. 338 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1931)
Ætna Insurance v. Travis
285 P. 522 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1930)
State ex rel. Hopkins v. Rayl
207 P. 759 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1922)
Upton v. Pendry
203 P. 300 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1922)
Holt v. Hall
193 P. 1058 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 P. 619, 100 Kan. 102, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wideman-v-faivre-kan-1917.