Help! I need legal advice re: easements

[karmakanic]

An excellent post Rick,,,thanks for the inside view.


Dave

 

[mdbarb]

Latest update:
Yesterday a road construction crew decends on the easement road. I go see what they are doing - the contractor says the are adding road base to two low spots on the road. He said the neighbor told him they discussed everything with me. They, of course, didn't mention anything.
Since my neighbor has ingress/egress rights and the responsibility to maintain it, I have no objection to him raising the level BUT I don't want the width increased at all. Army Corps of Engineers tell me he would need permits from them.
Of course yesterday was a holiday so my attorney could not contact the courts or the county offficials and they proceeded to lay the road base over the existing, increasing the width in some areas by a foot or two. Normally I wouldn't mind but this whole easement issue is hinged "Upon the existing road" and I don't feel he has the right to anything beyond "the existing road"
So I filmed and measured everything as they did it and will see if anything can hit the fan later.
Their lawyer was there the whole time (to run interference, I suppose) In the course of the day he gets in my face and calls me an a**hole! Later he confronts my 9 year old daughter and friend who were fishing in the pond immediately adjacent to the new road. Their footprints were on the new gravel so he accused the of vandalism and repeatedly said they would end up in juvenile hall. They came back to me asking what juvenile hall is, the playmate so scared he said his knees were shaking.
The man is a proven jerk so he doesn't really bother me anymore but shaking up little kids is about as low as you can go.

After the finish the road about 4:30, I drive my tractor over to the grassy knoll with the generator and air compressor to inflate a flat tire. He comes out and videotapes everything, including the kids playing soccer nearby. About a half an hour later the sheriff comes over saying they have a complaint about me driving on the road! I get about as mad as I dare to a sheriff saying it is my road and I 'll drive anywhere anytime I want. She eventually leaves and thats where it stands...
Mediation is Friday and right now I afeel mediated solution is about as likely as me getting MVP in the super bowl.

 

[hazmat]

Wow,

I've been following this thread from the start. I feel awful for you. The best Soap opera writers couldn't dream this stuff up!

Wishing you luck in the mediation...

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>… yesterday was a holiday so my attorney could not contact the courts or the county officials and they proceeded to lay the road base over the existing, increasing the width in some areas by a foot or two…</font color=blue>

Well… it’s too late now… but…

With negotiations already under way, and another meeting with officials only a few more days away, <font color=blue>… Mediation is Friday …</font color=blue>, I would have had the construction crew pack up and leave, “briefly” explaining you don’t want them in the middle of an on-going court battle… you are still the owner of the your property…

By your silence and “stand by and watch” attitude, the courts may see this as “adverse” elements exercised by your disputing neighbor and “silently” approved by you, and actually reinforcing “their case”… not yours…

Now, your neighbor can “lose” with the court, but the “new & wider” road is already a done deal… so he still won, all with your approval… /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[dourobob]

I have been following this post for some time with both astonishment and gratitude. I am astonished at how someone can be such an in-your-face jerk and accuse you of being the bad guy. I am grateful for the community in which I live - not to say that everything is a bed of roses but I have never heard of such a waste of taxpayers (and landowners) money in my neighbourhood.

I wish you all the best at your mediation meeting this Friday.

It really is a shame that what the court sees as right and what the rest of the population sees as right have to be so divergent sometimes.

A few years ago my wife and I were a a B&B where the owner was a retired (after 32 years) Grade 1 teacher. We started to discuss "kids these days" etc. and this woman claimed that in all her years of teaching she had never met a Grade 1 student who did not know the difference between right and wrong - not that they always did what was right but they knew the difference.

Interesting to speculate what a jury of Grade 1 students would have to say about the rightness or wrongness of this situation. I wonder if the wisdom of children could cut through all the stuff that has gone on and simply get to what is right.

I'll be looking for updates on Friday - good luck.

Bob

 

[mdbarb]

Well, I made it very clear to the contractor that there was an ongoing legal dispute, I even call is office and the office of the trucker supplying gravel. and of course my attorney. I was clear thqat I did not want them to widen it any more than existing. I am not sure what else I could have done except throw my body in front of the backhoe.

 

[TimSullivan]

You did what you needed to do. Friday will probably bring little except that the mediator will report to the judge what the judge already knows that your neighbor and his lawyer are jerks.

Did anyone else witness the attorney's behavior? If they did then see if you can get it in writing from them. It might come in handy that you and your children are harassed on your own property. I would sure find away to get the information to the judge.

You have far more patience then me and I would want to make the lawyer a problem or two. Not that it would help the over all situation but it would make me feel better. How about a restraining order from the courts to keep him off your property and at least away from the kids.

When I would get involved with a dispute my dad would always look at me and say “and this too will pass.” Time will solve the problem.

 

[mdbarb]

For those in suspense,
The mediation and deposition just got postponed.
My lawyer is in a case in another town that is going to run several days longer. At least it wasn't postponed for camping reasons like they did.
I was anxious to see what the plantiffs wouuld propose.....

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color=blue>"Their lawyer ... calls me an a**hole! Later he confronts my 9 year old daughter and friend who were fishing in the pond immediately adjacent to the new road. Their footprints were on the new gravel so he accused them of vandalism and repeatedly said they would end up in juvenile hall. They came back to me asking what juvenile hall is, the playmate so scared he said his knees were shaking. The man is a proven jerk so he doesn't really bother me anymore but shaking up little kids is about as low as you can go."</font color=blue>

I'm probably wrong in this, but I guarantee you had that been MY daughter, the splash that lawyer would have made would have scared all the fish in that little pond. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Mess with me, that's one thing. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif Mess with my kids (especially my little girl) and you're going down-no questions. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif I have a very, very low tolerance level for any bully.

 

[dmccarty]

mdbarb,

I hate to see this happen to anyone and I can't think of any
way to help but to say Good Luck, try not let this get to be
to stressful, and in time it will be over. I am on you side and
I'm sure the TBN membership is as well. I wish there was
more that could be done....

I have had and am continuing to have problems with my
neighbors. Its very frustrating and the reality is that the law
protects people like this. Its a shame....

I think you are showing remarkable and INTELLIGENT restraint.
Its to easy to go off on someone when one is dealing with
these sort of %^&*(.

I would find out what I could do to their lawyer. I would
try to file a complaint with the judge and the bar over what
was said to you and more importantly the children. Call me
what you want, you scare my family, especially on my land,
and there would have been trouble...

You should be a Star Member just based on you patience and
restraint....

GOOD LUCK!
Dan