Re: Lawsuit against land surveyor

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On 4/19/07, Maria wrote:
> I have a question about whether I can sue or not. The
> property next to mine is 10 acres and was subdivided 2
> years ago. When the surveyor surveyed the land the
> description contained a typo giving the property owner 100
> feet of my property. The only reason I found out about
> this was because I am refinancing and the title company
> found the error after doing the title search. Now, the
> surveyor has admitted that there was an error and has
> corrected the problem, but the owner is an older woman and
> seems to have trust issues and doesn't want to sign the
> quit claim deed. This is causing me to have to hire an
> attorney to do a quiet title and I'm also having to pay
> money to extend my interest rate. Would suing the
> surveyor be an option? I would like to recoop the money
> that I'm having to spend and also all the time I've spent
> having to deal with this. What are my options?
>
> Thank you.

A land survey can not "give" property, but I understand your
meaning. I am a land surveyor and not an attorney and this
is only my opinion. It appears to me that you are being
damaged by the land owner (She is claiming your land using a
survey description that is in error) and should expect her to
reimburse you for damages. She in turn should make the
lawsuit against the previous owner or the land surveyor.

I would recommend talking to her one more time and explaining
that if she is unwilling to sign a quitclaim deed (i would
have your warranty deed and hers and show that the
description on the quitclaim deed matches your warranty
deed's so that she is only quitclaiming any rights to your
property) You will be forced to take her to court to defend
your property rights and then its going to cost everyone but
the lawyers.