Court Opinion

ID: 9668613
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:19:19.607663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:46.439654
License: Public Domain

Fairchild, J.
(dissenting). Mr. and Mrs. Schimmel and Mr. and Mrs. Dundon are the four parties to this action. They, and they alone, lay any claim to the tract which Mr. Siepmann chose to call “Ciasen Farm.” The dispute between these neighbors concerns the location of the boundary which divides that tract between them. The true location of that boundary is important to these four people. Each one of them knew that the boundary of the division intended by Mr. Siepmann lay along a line marked by stakes and each of *105them accepted that boundary when they bought their land. The difficulty arose when the Dundons, who had been good neighbors and had been perfectly satisfied for four years with the boundary marked by stakes, discovered that by error the description in the deeds gave them 15 feet more than they had ever supposed they owned. They decided to take advantage of something on paper which they knew they had not bought or paid for and their neighbors had.
We would need to be highly imaginative to suppose that there is anyone really interested in the subject matter of this lawsuit except the Schimmels and the Dundons. The case has been tried o,n its merits and the circuit court has rendered a judgment which draws the boundary between them in accordance with the understanding each had when he purchased. Except for the minor matter of damages for the trespass, the judgment is amply supported by the evidence.
Forms of action and theories of pleading should not stand in the way of a just result when the parties have all had their day in court on the merits of their dispute.
In my opinion the judgment of the circuit court in so far as it determines the boundary should be affirmed.
The following memorandum was filed June 26, 1957: