Out of 26 lots two different Surveyors could only find 8 pins. You do the math on how many pins should be out there.
One of the lot owners began building adjacent to the other lot owner in 2017. He dug a large embankment which encroached over the lot line. Three Surveyors were called in which discovered the incompetent previous surveying. All three Surveyors agree the original surveying was of poor quality. Only one, me, verified how truely poor the original surveying was, to the degree that it's questionable any original surveying was ever done. During trial the Developer confirmed it was him that had set the 8 pins that had been found. The Defendants testified they had inherited the lot from their Grandfather and asked the Developer to show them where it was located. No licenced Surveyors became involved until the lawsuit was filed.
Sounds like Castle Bar. Same Developer same story. Just downstream from this location.
As long as nobody questions each other's locations, there is no problem.
I feel like I can understand a judge ruling in favor of the erroneous pins if they were set at the time of the platting (as long as they didn??t encroach abutters). But if any lots were sold before the time he set the pins, wouldn??t that automatically be fraudulent as the only representation of the land for 40 or so years is the plat? I know if I bought a piece of property from someone who handed me a plat of my property, then 40 years later staked it without my permission with the amount of discrepancy stated previously, I??d be quite upset, especially if I already have improvements based upon plat.
My question is: What would you do about it? If the Court ordered damages against you for trespassing on your neighbors lot . Can you go after the Developer. It's more than 5 years after you bought the property.
My solution is to somehow negotiate a boundary Line Agreement with 26 Lot owners. I was hoping someone would suggest the Developer should be liable for the cost of doing so. There is somewhat limited amounts of occupation by about 8 land owners. Waiting longer will only make the task of a Boundary Line Agreement more difficult. Just staking out lot per the Plat won't work, because there simply isn't enough land to fit every lot's acreage on the ground. Proportioning will stir up a hornets nest because existing cabins will become encroachments on adjoining lots.
Riddick v. Streett
?ÿ
Thanks Dan! Good information, some good some bad. Bad news they didn't award legal fees, which are quite a bit more than the surveying fees.
Thanks, Dan. Very relevant. I do wish the court had written more on the specific circumstances that led up to things going to trial.
I was one of the ‘numerous’ surveyors trying to make heads or tails of this subdivision. From what I remember, Mr. Riddick was an Engineer with a ‘grandfathered’ surveyor license. This site is very steep and it was later found that Mr. Riddick ‘slope’ chained a lot of the distances. The lot owners had enough money to fight…and argue…and throw us surveyors against each other. The banks were starting to get nervous…title clouds were rolling in. When it came time for Judge Imber to select her surveyor to do the re-plat, she requested qualifications and based her decision on ‘experience’. My mere 8 years as an Arkansas RLS was no match for Mr. Joe D. White, RLS #534.
Pulaski County Chancellor: Annabelle Clinton Imber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annabelle_Clinton_Imber
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/annabelle-davis-clinton-imber-tuck-6031/
Plot owners:
Garland Streett – retired attorney, descendant of an Arkansas Supreme Court Justice;
Robert V. Light – retired attorney
Thomas F. McLarty, III – former President Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff
Jack L. Tyler – Owner: Jack Tyler Engineering and Tyler Computer/Control Systems
Jackson T. Stephens, Jr. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Stephens#Career
Edgar Riddick was the owner, developer, surveyor, sub-divider, and marketer of Greenbrier Subdivision and its constituent lots. Numerous problems and disputes between lot owners and Mr. and Mrs. Riddick developed as to the proper location of boundaries and boundary markers within Greenbrier and along Cantrell Road.
Numerous surveyors experienced surveying problems because of large discrepancies on the plat of Greenbrier and between the plat and apparent claims of usage and of ownership. Using the distances shown as the boundaries, and the various angles at which those boundaries ran, all as shown on the Greenbrier Subdivision Plat, it was a mathematical fact that the figures of that subdivision would not close.
That resulted in numerous discrepancies in the dimensions and locations of the various plots in that subdivision and those distances and angles shown on that plat.
Hmmm??ÿ Garland Streett??ÿ Wonder if he was related to my daughter's roommate at U of A in Fayetteville.?ÿ She was a native Arkansan from Yellville, home to the world famous "turkey drop" each year.?ÿ That is the only time I have encountered that surname.
You have linked us the replat. Is Riddick's original plat available?
The 'original' plat of Greenbrier Subdivision to the City of Little Rock may be found at the office of the Pulaski County Circuit County Clerk in Plat Book 9, page 1 and the 'original' bill of assurance which had been previously filed in Book 746, page 543-551. Alas, there is not a digitized copy available on-line.
Here is a copy of the 1995 'amendment' to the bill of assurance of Greenbrier Subdivision:
DDSM
This is just surveying 101, isn't it? Measurements yield to monuments. Period. As to surveying without a license -- I think it would depend on the State in question. In my state you have to be representing yourself as a licensee or as one legally allowed to lay out boundaries etc. and you'd have to be charging a fee for doing so. Doing it on your own property would not be a violation.
That's humorous...you can tell it's not going to go well when they open with an ass chewing of the appellant because of his lengthy opening statement of the case which violates several rules of court.
