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Court case involving 0.02' "error".

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(@the-pseudo-ranger)
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Anyone see the story in America Surveyor, detailing how another surveyor called a pipe he had set 20 years ago off by 0.01 E, and .02' S, how that became an issue in a court case between two feuding neighbors? It's complete with claims from the other surveyor that measurements with modern equipment trump monuments set by theodolite and chain. Crazy Californians!

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 3:43 pm
 NYLS
(@nyls)
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Absolutely unbelievable and unrealistic.

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 4:12 pm
(@roveryan)
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isn't 0.05' approximately the diameter of the pin?

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 4:44 pm
(@jeremy-hallick)
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I read that article the other day and took it into the office on Friday. Needless to say we all were shocked to read what went on. If the story is true as I read it, the "other surveyor" is a complete moron.

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 5:01 pm
(@spledeus)
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was his computed point out by the 0.02' x 0.01'?
or is the 20 year old pipe out?

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 5:03 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

Yes I read that.

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 5:04 pm
(@dougie)
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> was his computed point out by the 0.02' x 0.01'?
> or is the 20 year old pipe out?

Yes

 
Posted : May 11, 2013 7:17 pm
(@frank-willis)
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The only accurate survey is the full size thing out there on the ground. The person who tries to measure it and draw it on paper and try to rule the ground with a piece of paper that was actually derived from the stuff on the ground is a moron indeed.

This idiot, left uncontrolled, would start a feud on every tract of land in America.

Natural Hierarchy?????????????????????????????

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 6:06 am
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

It's the confusion over accuracy versus precision.

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 9:04 am
(@threerivers)
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Curtis Brown got sued over 0.05' foot

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 12:06 pm
(@kent-mcmillan)
Posts: 11419
 

> It's the confusion over accuracy versus precision.

I just skimmed that article today, but wasn't the whole point of contesting the errors of 0.01 ft. and 0.02 ft. in the survey made decades ago that some idiot judge might be persuaded that the "new, improved" survey was somehow correct and diligent and that the earlier survey with the trivial errors was some grossly defective product? As I recall, the author's attorney advised not conceding any ground even on trivial points of survey accuracy because he didn't think the court was sophisticated enough to understand.

The real story there is that some attorney didn't have enough confidence in his own abilities to bring the court to recognize the truth of the matter or that some judge was so completely uninformed as to buy into the idea that the new survey was the only reliable one. That's life in the 21st century in spades.

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 6:55 pm
(@the-pseudo-ranger)
Posts: 2369
Topic starter
 

I don't think the line dispute was a main issue in the case, but rather something that thrown in as a side show, for two neighbors that just wanted to beat each other over the head with lawyer fees. It almost sounds as if the second surveyor was selected based on the criteria that he would further kick the hornet's nest.

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 7:49 pm
(@kent-mcmillan)
Posts: 11419
 

> It almost sounds as if the second surveyor was selected based on the criteria that he would further kick the hornet's nest.

Yes. I just consulted on a case where the other party went through four or five surveyors until they finally found one who was willing to see things their way. It wasn't pretty to see what their "expert" turned out.

 
Posted : May 12, 2013 7:58 pm
(@holy-cow)
Posts: 25292
 

(W)hores are us! Surveying Company seems to always find a way to get involved in these types of cases. Their list of available services includes all sorts of things the typical survey company won't lower themselves to do.

 
Posted : May 13, 2013 4:43 am
(@ctompkins)
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.05' is the diameter of most pins in the US, but in the article I believe there was a 2" pipe being reference on the line in dispute.

 
Posted : May 13, 2013 6:54 am