However, as soon as the other neighbor acquires livestock and benefits from the fence, he or she is obligated to share the costs of building and maintaining the fence. Line fence laws also set out a procedure to resolve disputes between neighbors over fences. Arbitrators are selected by either side and can make binding rulings on the proper location of the fence, fence design standards, responsibility for maintenance, and allocation of costs. The federal Railway Act requires railway companies to erect fences on each side of a railway as well as gates at farm crossings. The National Transportation Agency can, by order, excuse a railway company from its duty to construct a fence if the railway company can prove that fences are not necessary in the area where the trains pass through.
Railway companies are liable for damages that result from their failure to maintain fences.
For example, the railways have had to pay damages for loss of cattle that have strayed onto a railway through a hole in their fences. It turns out that the Railway Act recently was repealed, and the new legislation no longer requires railways to fence. This article is for information only and should not be relied upon as legal advice.