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Neighbor suing over property line

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LdiJ

Senior Member
It could depend on what you see as the major issue, installing a fence or harassment over not installing a fence without first having a survey. I think harassment is the major issue.
But if he has been sued by the neighbor, it is not for harassment. It is for the fence. He has to defend against that suit. Yes, he has a potential counter claim of harassment, but defending against the neighbor's suit is primary in my opinion.
 


quincy

Senior Member
Yes. boiseguy2 has to defend against his neighbor’s suit. No argument there. The attorney he sees Monday can assist him with that and a counterclaim.

From what has been described, I don’t think the judge will look too kindly on the neighbor.

It is too bad the neighbor decided to waste money on a lawsuit instead of paying for a survey and installing a fence years ago.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Yes. boiseguy2 has to defend against his neighbor’s suit. No argument there. The attorney he sees Monday can assist him with that and a counterclaim.

From what has been described, I don’t think the judge will look too kindly on the neighbor.

It is too bad the neighbor decided to waste money on a lawsuit instead of paying for a survey and installing a fence years ago.
I agree. It is more than a little bit absurd. I suspect that the judge is going to expect the neighbor to produce a survey to prove his point. However, we aren't experts on the issue and I do believe our OP needs to be guided by a real estate attorney to defend against the suit.
 

boiseguy2

Member
You don’t necessarily need a real estate lawyer but you should ask any attorney you see on Monday about filing a counterclaim. Explain to the lawyer about the continuous harassment.

Your neighbor cannot force you to install a fence.
Update : After spending 4 hours calling literally 20+ lawyers I only had 2 call back. The 2 that called back asked to see a copy of the summons which I scanned and emailed to them and neither one of them called me back the following day like they said they would.

I was lucky and received the best advice possible from my son's Gunny who is a paralegal in his civilian life. He told me not to bother calling a lawyer at all, He said to call your homeowner's insurance company. It didn't make sense to me but I called Wednesday morning and they jumped right into action. The only question they had was "why didn't you call us first ? " I expect to hear back from them today and will update on the results.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Update : After spending 4 hours calling literally 20+ lawyers I only had 2 call back. The 2 that called back asked to see a copy of the summons which I scanned and emailed to them and neither one of them called me back the following day like they said they would.

I was lucky and received the best advice possible from my son's Gunny who is a paralegal in his civilian life. He told me not to bother calling a lawyer at all, He said to call your homeowner's insurance company. It didn't make sense to me but I called Wednesday morning and they jumped right into action. The only question they had was "why didn't you call us first ? " I expect to hear back from them today and will update on the results.
Homeowners insurance, huh? Interesting. I hope your insurer is able to help although I don’t see how they can.

I also recommend you call the two attorneys back instead of waiting for their calls. You probably should make an appointment.

Good luck.
 

boiseguy2

Member
Homeowners insurance, huh? Interesting. I hope your insurer is able to help although I don’t see how they can.

I also recommend you call the two attorneys back instead of waiting for their calls. You probably should make an appointment.

Good luck.
I thought exactly the same thing but I was pretty frustrated after not hearing back from lawyers and was willing to try anything. within an hour of talking to them, sending them the summons and text messages they called me back and said it was sent to their legal department and they would handle it for me. My agent told me any time I'm sent a summons or somebody is taking legal action against me I need to call them first. I'm sure there will be some kind of a charge or deductible, but at this point I really don't care. I bought this property to enjoy, not to have to deal with some idiot that won't get a survey done over a fence for 7 years.
 

boiseguy2

Member
You could also have had a survey done. Just sayin'
You are absolutely right.... But the neighbor wanted the fence, Not me. I could care less if there's a fence there or not. I even offered to pay half of having a survey done for a fence "he wanted". I looked into getting a survey done to just be done with this crap but donating $3500 to a neighbor just to shut him up about a fence "he wanted" was not something I was interested in doing. On the other hand if I was in his position and I wanted a fence installed I would have got a survey done, put the fence in on my side of the property and would have been done with it 7 years ago.
 

Bali Hai Again

Active Member
I thought exactly the same thing but I was pretty frustrated after not hearing back from lawyers and was willing to try anything. within an hour of talking to them, sending them the summons and text messages they called me back and said it was sent to their legal department and they would handle it for me. My agent told me any time I'm sent a summons or somebody is taking legal action against me I need to call them first. I'm sure there will be some kind of a charge or deductible, but at this point I really don't care. I bought this property to enjoy, not to have to deal with some idiot that won't get a survey done over a fence for 7 years.
Are you sure the neighbor just wants a fence, or, a fence and some of your land? This whole thing seems very odd.
 

boiseguy2

Member
Are you sure the neighbor just wants a fence, or, a fence and some of your land? This whole thing seems very odd.
I wish I had an answer to that, but I don't. I have a few thoughts, Maybe he

1. Wants a fence and some of my land but doesn't have the money to pay for either one.

2. Wants a fence and is using me as an excuse not to build it so his wife doesn't beat him up.

3. Gets his tax refund and wants to build a fence until he spends all of his tax refund on crack then uses me as an excuse for not building a fence. It's always right around tax time that he starts bugging me about a fence.

I honestly have no idea but I hope you got a laugh out of my comments.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I wish I had an answer to that, but I don't. I have a few thoughts, Maybe he

1. Wants a fence and some of my land but doesn't have the money to pay for either one.

2. Wants a fence and is using me as an excuse not to build it so his wife doesn't beat him up.

3. Gets his tax refund and wants to build a fence until he spends all of his tax refund on crack then uses me as an excuse for not building a fence. It's always right around tax time that he starts bugging me about a fence.

I honestly have no idea but I hope you got a laugh out of my comments.
It sure sounds like he is hoping you will pay for everything, with a lawsuit perhaps trying to intimidate you into paying before it gets to court. I honestly don’t see what he expects from court. The law on fences essentially says both parties must pay their share.
 

boiseguy2

Member
I agree this seems odd.
I wish I could post the texts between me and this neighbor but I don't think I should until it's over and done with. If you think the info I posted seems odd, if you were to read the texts between myself and this neighbor you would probably think this neighbor should be committed.
 

boiseguy2

Member
It sure sounds like he is hoping you will pay for everything, with a lawsuit perhaps trying to intimidate you into paying before it gets to court. I honestly don’t see what he expects from court. The law on fences essentially says both parties must pay their share.
I already went through that with him. He asked me if we could build a fence between our properties. I didn't care if there was a fence there or not so to be nice I said yes. We agreed on a property line because we couldn't find the property pins, I paid for all of the materials even though he started making excuses not to pay 2 weeks before I bought the materials. He was supposed to help put the fence in but when it came time to start putting posts in he never showed up and didn't answer his phone ( claimed his phone died ). I dug the holes and put the posts and 2x4 rails in after they were in ( and his phone came back to life ) he messaged me and said the fence looked crooked and he no longer agreed on the property line we previously agreed on. I had enough of this neighbor so I removed the posts and 2x4's and told him we needed to get a survey done to avoid any future issues with the property line before we put a fence in.... Little did I know that 7 years later we would still be dealing with property line issues.
 

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