Opinion ID: 1366771
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Downer's Negligence

Text: Downer contends that his actions did not fall below the standard of care for licensed surveyors because he made the proper assumptions when reaching his conclusions concerning the location of the northern boundary of Jacobsen's property. In particular, Downer claims that field notes are presumptively correct until rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence and, therefore, he was required to assume that the calls and distances contained in the field notes were accurately measured and recorded. In contrast, the district court heard expert testimony that Downer was not entitled to rely upon the calls and distances in the field notes once he located the monuments and, if he could not locate a monument, he was required to reset the monument by a double proportionate measurement. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the district court's determination that Downer failed to meet the requisite standard of care. In addition to the cumulative evidence presented at trial, we have previously recognized that the location of monuments prevails over calls and distances: The trial court thus fully recognized, as a matter of law, that the original monument evidencing the corner common to sections 16, 17, 20 and 21, if found and identified (or, if destroyed or obliterated, if its location could be fixed), would control the situation irrespective of the field notes and, undoubtedly, irrespective of the testimony of the defendants' witnesses hereinafter referred to. Backer v. Gowen, 73 Nev. 34, 39, 307 P.2d 765, 768 (1957). [6] Moreover, the district court expressly disbelieved Downer's testimony and relied instead upon the testimony of Neil Forsythe, a cadastral surveyor for the BLM, who indicated that the standard of care requires a surveyor to establish the four corners of a given section by identifying the location of the original survey monuments. Downer contends that Forsythe was not qualified to render an opinion as to the standard of care because he is not a licensed surveyor in Nevada. Downer's contention lacks merit for two reasons: First, a person need not be licensed to qualify as an expert; rather, the witness must simply possess special knowledge, skill, experience, training or education relating to the subject matter. NRS 50.275. Forsythe, a BLM surveyor for over thirty-five years, was qualified to testify on the subject of surveying methods. Second, employees of the federal government who have been authorized under federal law to conduct surveys need not be licensed unless they are performing private surveys within the state. NRS 625.490(4). [7] The district court is better suited to rule on the qualifications of persons presented as expert witnesses and we will not substitute our evaluation of a witness's credentials for that of the district court absent a showing of clear error. The district court did not err in allowing Forsythe to testify as an expert.