Pull v. Barnes

350 P.2d 828 (1960)

Facts

Ps located a parcel of land upon which they desired to build a mountain home and began to search out the owners of it. Just west of the piece of land was a line of an old fence which had upon it 'No Trespassing' signs. Ps proceeded to negotiate with and buy from the parties who, in good faith, asserted the title to the land now in question. It later was determined by a survey that D owned the land, which Ps believed they had purchased, and upon which they had constructed their cabin. P hired a licensed surveyor to stake out the corners of the cabin site but did not ask him to survey the land itself to determine the boundary lines between their property and D. During the construction, D were on the scene a number of times and acted as neighbors-about-to-be. Neither party knew or even suspected at the time of the construction of the cabin that it was being built upon land belonging to D. After the cabin was completed D negotiated with P for a right-of-way through the land upon which Ps had built their cabin, and upon being refused hired a surveyor, and for the first time learned that the cabin which Ps had erected was solely upon D's land. Ds erected a fence excluding Ps from the cabin and the land until a preliminary injunction was entered in this case some two years later. The trial court held that the cabin was entirely within the land owned by Ds and entered judgment for Ds. P appealed.