Opinion ID: 1908063
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the 1968 survey sketch

Text: [¶ 12] Coombs argues that the trial court considered Hatch's 1968 survey sketch as substantive evidence after the court admitted the sketch for the limited purpose of demonstrating that Small relied on it to prepare his survey. The court's opinion states that [w]hen a man like Mr. Hatch, who as Mr. Day noted was the surveyor for Islesboro, designated a monument as a boundary marker on an island that is his island, it seems unlikely that he would have been wrong. (Emphasis in original.) [¶ 13] Contrary to Coombs's contention, the trial court did not rely on the Hatch survey sketch as substantive evidence. The court's finding merely reflects the testimony of the expert surveyors in this case who themselves consulted the Hatch survey sketch in determining the boundaries. See Department of Envtl. Protection v. Woodman, 1997 ME 164, ¶ 5, 697 A.2d 1295, 1298 (recognizing that experts may rely on inadmissible evidence to support their opinion if it is the kind of evidence commonly relied on by experts). Specifically, the court relied on Day's testimony that Hatch, in the course of his survey, designated an iron pipe as a monument in the area near where Small found the old 1¼ inch pipe. Both Day and Small reviewed the Hatch survey sketch, discussed the survey sketch with Hatch, and acknowledged that Hatch served as the local Islesboro surveyor for many years. The trial court, therefore, did not commit error. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.