Surveyor rights to access private property in MO

[ponytug]

You can be sued in any state for any reason regardless of merit. Even if you end up winning it could take years of your time and cost tens of thousands.

Or more...

All the best, Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

You can be sued in any state for any reason regardless of merit. Even if you end up winning it could take years of your time and cost tens of thousands.

Not here. We have laws protecting landowners from injuries not involving their negligence. If you lose, you pay the landowner fees.
The law has been on the books since 1979 and there has never been a successful lawsuit. Ambulance chasers won't accept cases if it may cost them money.

 

[jk96]

You can be sued in any state for any reason regardless of merit. Even if you end up winning it could take years of your time and cost tens of thousands.

Yeah that's our problem with lawsuits in this country. Anybody can sue for anything. You still have to go to court and spend your own money to defend yourself.
Quick story. I own a pyrotechnics display company. One year a guy gave his brother some 3-in display shells. He supported the launch mortar with a concrete block and was drunk. Dropped the shell in upside down. Shell exploded and threw concrete shrapnel. Concrete caught his wife in the neck she bled out and died. He shot himself out of guilt 6 days later. We were named in a wrongful death lawsuit by the children as we were identified in the Fire Marshals report as the supplier of the shell. Fire Marshal found a purchase invoice of the dead guys brothers with our company name on it and made the connection that the shell must have come from us in their report. We were 9 months into the lawsuit and getting ready to start depositions when we recieved discovery to view the shells from the incident that were stored by the fire marshal. The shells were not our, another brand we had never carried. Our insurance company still settled for $30k. I paid a $10k deductible and rates increased slightly. My insurance refused to take the case to court to prove it was not our product because the 30k was pennies compared to the cost of a court case.

 

[dodge man]

When I was out surveying I always wore a high visibility vest to make it obvious why I was out and about. My son works for a phone company and often has to do locates, he has had land owners yell at him for that and it’s usually out in the road right of way.

The reason for right of entry for surveyors? If a persons corners are missing, it only makes sense that you have to go on the neighbors ground to find additional corners. I’ve done surveys in small towns where I looked in an area of several city blocks to find enough corners to finish.

I’m not dismissing the OP’s attitude but after you get yelled at enough times as a surveyor it’s easy to get a bad attitude towards angry land owners. As I got older I started learning to identify those people, take a break from what I was doing and chat them up and try to diffuse the situation.

 

[dodge man]

I’ll add one more comment. Not exact numbers but I spent about half my time working on civil engineering surveying and the other half doing boundary work. I had more angry land owners while working on engineering projects as I did while boundary surveying. It didn’t matter what the project was, somebody was against it.

 

[Eagle1]

Not sure, but I would imagine their safety would be covered by their survey company insurance, if not my home insurance.
If anything, me giving them permission first, would likely only increase the chance of it being my problem, since I acknowledged and OK’d their presence

Yeah but if they talk to me I would guide them past any issues and not let a truck go where it should not.
I'm retired and always here.

 

[jk96]

When I was out surveying I always wore a high visibility vest to make it obvious why I was out and about. My son works for a phone company and often has to do locates, he has had land owners yell at him for that and it’s usually out in the road right of way.

The reason for right of entry for surveyors? If a persons corners are missing, it only makes sense that you have to go on the neighbors ground to find additional corners. I’ve done surveys in small towns where I looked in an area of several city blocks to find enough corners to finish.

I’m not dismissing the OP’s attitude but after you get yelled at enough times as a surveyor it’s easy to get a bad attitude towards angry land owners. As I got older I started learning to identify those people, take a break from what I was doing and chat them up and try to diffuse the situation.

I understand that. I'm sure they catch hell all of the time. That's the reason on the 1st occasion when I called the office to see why they were here I told him I did not need to talk to the individuals on the property, just the office. They are only doing what was told of them. It's also the reason the 1st call I told them I only wanted a notification. I did not want to deny them access and make their jobs extremely difficult. It's an easy walk through our property. I just wanted a heads up. Here's an aerial map that gives an idea of the property layout. Blue is our boundary. Red is the property being surveyed. Where our two properties meet is where there are marking the line. As you can see it would be a long hike through timber to get to that line. Just wanted a heads up and don't believe a phone call and or voice message is asking too much.

 

[dodge man]

Another point, if I was going to be driving a four wheeler, truck etc through someone else’s property I’d always get ahold of them. Often the land owner would know the neighbors good enough to do that for me. The reason I bring it up is it looks like some kind of power line row on the property they are surveying would be a good way in to the back but you’d have to cut through the neighbors ground to the west to get there.

 

[jk96]

Yep. Powerline easement through there. Ours is still the easiest access. It's the we can do what we want attitude I got along with what I believe is misinterpreting MO access law to justify their attitude that really rubbed me the wrong way. I was not rude or condescending when contacting them but that's what I received back.

 

[Chewwy]

Why exactly are you arguing about people trespassing on someone's property? If he was fenced and gated they would have to find another way to get to where they want to be so why not just do that? All the OP is saying is just give him the courtesy of a phone call and warning. Someone doing what they did in SC will get you shot in a heartbeat. You don't catch surveyors doing that here.

As much as you may want to you, one cannot legally shoot someone for trespassing. Check the state statutes.

You must have a reasonable belief that deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent serious bodily harm or death to yourself or another person.