Opinion ID: 1402745
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Petitioners Failed To Prove A Well-Defined And Marked Boundary For The Entire Limitations Period.

Text: Respondents also contend that the Court of Appeals erred by deeming Petitioners' boundary-line proof sufficient. As noted above, proof, by clear and convincing evidence, of a well-defined boundary is an essential element of an adverse possession claim. The claimed land, our predecessor Court held nearly a century ago, must be either actually enclosed or so marked that the land is susceptible of being identified by its description. Young v. Pace, 140 S.W. at 555. Whether this standard retains its vitality in an age when global positioning systems make precise boundary descriptions a relatively simple matter is an interesting question. Jeffrey Evans Stake, The Uneasy Case For Adverse Possession, 89 Geo. L.J. 2419 (2001). It is a question best left to the General Assembly, however, and in any event having decided on other grounds that Petitioners' claim must be dismissed as a matter of law, we need not address it here. Even under the old standard, we agree with the trial court that Petitioners' boundary-line proof was insufficient. As noted at the outset of our analysis, we will uphold an order granting JNOV if after all the evidence is construed most favorably to the verdict winner, a finding in his favor would not be made by a reasonable [person]. Moore v. Environmental Construction Corporation, 147 S.W.3d 13, 16 (Ky.2004) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, as the trial court noted in its order granting judgment NOV, Petitioners' proof was directed exclusively to establishing the location of their purported eastern boundary line and the fact that that line had been continuously marked and posted since about 1982. The western boundary of the disputed area, moreover, coincided with the eastern boundary of the Winstead Farm, and that line, although not proven by Petitioners, was introduced by Respondents. Petitioners have not referred us, however, to any testimony purporting to locate the northern and southern boundaries of the disputed area. They rely instead on a couple of their exhibits, which did purport to show the northern and southern lines. During his testimony, Roy Stills drew an outline of the disputed area on a large aerial photograph of the two farms, including northern and southern boundaries. Petitioners also introduced a smaller aerial photograph of the area on which the quitclaimed intervening tracts were marked in conjunction with the rest of the disputed area. That exhibit, too, indicated northern and southern boundaries. On both exhibits the southern boundary appears to extend in a straight line from the southeastern corner of the Winstead Farm to the large stone at the southeastern corner of the disputed area. The exhibits thus render that boundary susceptible to an identifying description. The northern boundaries pictured on the two exhibits do not coincide, however. On the Stills exhibit, the northern boundary appears to run in a straight line from the northeast corner of the Winstead Farm to the gum tree/right-of-way marker at the northeast corner of the disputed area. On the other exhibit, however, the northern boundary is shown as following the old rail bed a bit north of the Stills line. Without clarifying testimony, therefore, and we have been referred to none, these exhibits are ambiguous and do not permit an identifying description of the northern boundary. Were Petitioners attempting to claim to that boundary, the trial court's determination that their proof was insufficient would clearly be correct. As noted at the outset, however, this case is unusual in that Petitioners have reduced the land they hope to be awarded to an area inside the area they claim to have adversely possessed. Their tendered judgment includes a full metes and bounds description of this smaller area, and it appears that the northern boundary of that area is within both of the boundaries pictured on the trial exhibits. In these circumstances it may be wondered whether an accurate description of the outer boundary is necessary or whether instead proof that the outer boundary was clearly marked for the entire limitations period should suffice. Even assuming that proof of marking would suffice, however, we are not convinced that the trial court clearly erred when it ruled that Petitioners' proof came up short. Although, as the Court of Appeals noted, a couple of Stills's hunting acquaintances commented during their testimony that they had during a few of the years in question helped Stills flag and post not only the eastern boundary but the entire farm, no rational juror could deem that scant testimony clear and convincing evidence that the northern and southern boundaries had been clearly marked for the entire limitations period. We have not been referred to any other evidence tending to establish that the northern and southern boundaries were continuously marked for fifteen years, and thus, on this ground too, the trial court's JNOV was proper.