Property Owners “Pinned” in Years Before Suit

June 9, 2012 | Erika Eckley

In Iowa, when owners of adjacent property have treated certain objects as the recognized boundaries for more than 10 years, the recognized boundaries become the actual boundaries regardless of what subsequent surveys may show.  In this case, neighbors ran into issues when one party decided to change the established boundaries after acquiring an old survey.

The plaintiffs owned property that bordered the defendants on three sides. The fourth side of the property was bordered by a road. Neither party had a survey done when they purchased their property. At the time the plaintiffs bought their property in 2000, there were four steel posts marking the defendants’ property. Nine years after buying the property, the plaintiffs wanted to determine the exact boundaries between the properties. The plaintiffs obtained a survey from 1987, located the metal pins, and replaced the previously existing steel posts with wooden posts at the survey locations. A year later, the plaintiffs sued the defendants alleging trespass and nuisance based on the location of the posts placed by the plaintiffs. The defendants counter-claimed seeking to quiet title based on acquiescence in the metal pins as the boundary of the property for more than 10 years and alleging trespass by the plaintiffs.

The case proceeded to trial. The trial court issued an opinion quieting title in the property to the defendants and awarded damages to the defendants for the plaintiffs’ trespass. The plaintiffs’ claims were denied. The plaintiffs appealed both issues.

Relying on Iowa Code § 650.14, which applies statutory requirements for making permanent boundaries established by acquiescence when the corners and boundaries are in dispute, the court agreed the defendants had acquiesced in the boundaries. The court agreed substantial evidence established that the steel pins served as guides for the boundaries between the properties from 1987 until 2009. There was testimony that a driveway was poured on one edge of the property based on the location of the pins, a tenant on the adjacent property always farmed outside the boundary line set by the steel posts, evergreens had been planted inside the boundaries, and that relying on posts was customary to establish boundaries. The steel post boundaries had been recognized for more than 10 years, so the trial court’s opinion was affirmed.

The appellate court next examined the plaintiffs’ claims for trespass and nuisance, which were dismissed by the trial court. The trial court had dismissed the claims without making any separate findings regarding the claim. The plaintiffs failed to request that the trial court amend or enlarge its findings, so there was nothing for the appellate court to review. By rule, when there are no factual findings to review, the appellate court assumes findings existed necessary to support the trial court’s judgment. As such, the trial court’s opinion dismissing these claims was also affirmed. Budreau v. Schmitz, No. 2-207/11-1449, 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 411 (Iowa Ct. App. May 23, 2012).