Full day (or half day) – A full day seminar can be converted to a half day by removing case studies to shorten the length of the presentation. The core subject matter is left intact.
Half day (or full day) – A half day seminar is converted to full day by adding more case studies. This helps to emphasize the core principles from the subject matter.
Class Descriptions
Boundary Dispute Resolution – full day (or half day)
“The surveyor, having made an evaluation of the evidence, forms an opinion as to where he believes the lines would be located if fully adjudicated in a court of law. The typical modern day surveyor sees himself as an expert evaluator of evidence. He strives to arrive at the same opinion of boundary location regardless of whether he was hired by his client or his client's next door neighbor.”
“What Every Lawyer Should Know about Title Surveys”, Williams & Onsrud
If this were only the case. Many surveyors see themselves as “expert measurers” not “expert evaluators of evidence.” But in truth, this is the surveyor's role:; to form an opinion as to where the surveyor feels the boundary lines would be located if fully adjudicated in a court of law. This can only be done by gathered the evidence relevant to the location and the boundary between the coterminous landowners involved, evaluating that evidence, and making a decision as to the true location of the boundary line. These decisions, however, must be legally sound. The principles of law used by the courts when dealing with conflicts in boundaries will be studied in detail so that the student will understand and comprehend these principles. In many situations, conflicts in the evidence must be resolved by the surveyor in order to, not only make a correct determination of the boundary, but to leave significant footsteps behind for following surveyors to find. How do we, as surveyors, resolve these boundary conflicts? This seminar will not only look at conflicts in boundary evidence, this seminar will also explore effective ways of resolving these conflicts before they become full blown boundary disputes between neighbors, that in many cases, turn into lawsuits. In addition, methods for resolving boundary disputes will also be studied leaving the seminar student with some effective tools for handling theses situations in everyday practice.
Contracts for Land Surveyors – full day (or half day)
This course will instruct the attendees on the basic concepts of contracts and will follow through to the preparation of a typical contract for professional services. Also studied will be the proposal and the role it plays in the overall agreement. Goods will be distinguished from professional services. Verbal and written, as well as express and implied contracts will be discussed. Each of the elements that go into a good contract will be studied:; “offer,” “acceptance,” “consideration,” “capacity,” “subject matter (legal form),” and “description of services (legal purpose).” Short form and long form contracts, pros and cons, will be examined. Certifications, warranties and guarantees and how they apply to professional services will be discussed. Liability and limiting liability through contract language will also be discussed with sample contract clauses. Examples of contract clauses to avoid, especially when the professional is asked to sign the clients contract, will be offered and discussed. At least three court cases dealing with contract disputes will be studied. Seminar participants will also study the one–page contract and will prepare their own one–page, short form contract for land surveying services.
Eminent Domain (The State's Taking Power) – half day (or full day)
Many surveyors, as well as the general public, have little understanding of eminent domain and the state's power to take private property. This half–day seminar will study the recent Supreme Court action in the case of Kelo v. City of New London that has sparked the interest of legal scholars, land surveyors, and ordinary citizens. The basics of eminent domain will be studied along with basic property rights will be studied. Prior court decisions leading up to the decision in Kelo will be studied. And recent developments in the law will be discussed. Case studies and discussion.
Engineer and Land Surveyor Liability – full day (or half day)
What is your liability as a professional engineer or land surveyor? Do you have protection because you work for a large corporation? What if you are a solo–practitioner? Are you liable to third parties with whom you have no contractual relationship? These and other issues will be the subject of this seminar, designed to give the professional engineer and land surveyor answers to these and other important liability questions. What is the role of contracts and insurance in protecting the professional from liability? Will I have to take my liability to my grave? Important doctrines of the law and courts cases will be discussed to provide these answers. Are there some easy steps that I can take as a professional to limit my liability? Yes there are, and some of those will be discussed and explained.
Ethics – one to four hours
One or two hours of ethics can be added to any program to meet mandated ethics requirements, or this can be a stand alone three or four hour program. Utilizing the Surveyor's Creed and Canons adopted by the National Society of Professional Land Surveyors as a basis for discussion, this seminar will study ethical consideration in everyday practice. The opening discussion usually runs about one or two hours. Depending on the length of the presentation (1–4 hours), court cases will be examined to help flesh out the concepts discussed.
Evidence and Procedures – full day (or half day)
There is a line of thinking within and without the surveying community that goes something like this: The surveyor's only role is to deal with the facts as contained in the client's deed; all other issues with regard to boundaries can only be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. The obvious problem with this line of thinking is that, if this is truly the case, society does not need land surveyors. Boundary determinations boil down to two questions:; A question of law and a question of fact. “The question of what is a boundary line is a matter of law, but the question of where a boundary line, or a corner, is actually located is a question of fact.” Walleigh v. Emery (Pa.Super.Court. 1960). “In resolving a boundary line dispute, the trier of fact must evaluate all of the evidence and assess the credibility of the witnesses.” Jackson v. Bownas (Tenn.App. 2005). The question of what the boundary is and where the boundary is located can be answered by the land surveyor who has gathered the relevant evidence, evaluated that evidence, and has formed a well reasoned opinion based on the law and the facts in light of the surrounding circumstances. Evidence and procedures for land surveyors will explore this process and the reasonable conclusions to be drawn from it.
Expert Witness Testimony – full day (or half day)
The role of the land surveyor as expert witness will be studied and explored. The history of law and equity will be examined in order to understand the difference between the two. The differences between the federal courts and state courts will be studied. The general structure of the federal court system will be used as an example to the understanding of the courts in general. The Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they pertain to the expert witness will be provided to seminar participates and explained through real world examples. The seminar will go through the basics of a civil trial. The role of the expert as a witness and the testimony that the expert can give under the rules will be explored. Ten fundamental questions that every expert witness must know before testifying will be asked and answered. Four pivotal court cases on the issue of expert witness testimony will be studied and discussed.
How to Make a Boundary Determination that Will Win in Court – full day (or half day)
This full–day (or half–day) seminar will reveal the “keys” used by the courts when they make boundary determinations. These “keys” are used by courts all across the country and generally apply across all jurisdictions. The boundary surveyor who wants to win in court should know what these keys are and how to apply them in everyday practice. Why apply them in your everyday practice? Because you don't know which survey representing your boundary determination will end up in court. In this litigious society we find ousrsleves in, where the value of land is skyrocketing and lawyers in search of billable hours are multiplying, losing in court is no longer an option. If your intent is to make boundary determinations that will hold up in court, then this seminar is essential for your practice and for your protection.
Land Surveyor in Court – full day (or half day)
This seminar will explore the world of civil litigation and the land surveyor's role as expert witness or as a defendant. This seminar will demystify the litigation process and explain the rules of engagement that will be used in court. There are the two primary ways in which the surveyor will end up in court. The surveyor may be called to be an expert witness where testimony will be given either in defense of a fellow surveyor's work, or to help establish the standard of care that a fellow surveyor failed to meet. Or the surveyor will go to court to defend his or her on work. In either case, the surveyor must be prepared to face the challenges of testifying. Good and bad testimony will be examined through real court cases in which surveyors testified as experts and in their own defense. Important issues of surveyor's liability will be studied. Strategies for winning in court will be explained and strategies for avoiding court altogether will be discussed. This seminar will teach the participants how to thrive as an expert witness and how to survive as a defendant in court.
Law of Easements – full day (or half day)
Real property rights will be examined, generally, and non–possessory interests created by easements will be examined specifically. The classifications and the manner in which easements are created will be studied. This will include a discussion of easements created by conveyance and easements created by other means (e.g. prescription, implication, etc.). Once the creation of easements has been established, the scope, interpretation, and the rights and obligations, of both the easements owner and the owner of the servient estate will be examined. Concepts that will be studied include dominant estate and servient estate; easement in gross and easement appurtenant; express easement and implied (non–express) easement; and “running with the land.” The termination and extinguishment of easements will wrap up the discussion. At least six court cases from across the country that exemplify and flesh out these concepts will be examined by the participants with discussion to follow.
Legal Descriptions and Conveyances – full day (or half day)
This seminar assumes that the participant has written legal descriptions before, therefore, the fundamentals of writing legal descriptions will only be touched on. What will be examined in this seminar is the law as it applies to the conveyances and the interpretation of conveyances, of which the description of the property (often referred to as the “legal description”) is a vital part. Fundamental issues affecting property law will be discussed through court cases and the problem of resolving conflicts between the written instrument of conveyance and the physical evidence of boundaries found on the ground will be analyzed. Deed staker verses fence line surveyor will be discussed along with the pitfalls of both. Monuments and the role they play in the interpretation of legal descriptions will be discussed and studied. Senior/junior rights and unwritten conveyances will be studied. Problem legal descriptions and interpretation problems will be discussed in detail. Issues affecting title and the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) will be studied. Re–writing bad legal descriptions, pros and cons, will be discussed. Not only will the concept of “following in the footsteps” be discussed, but will be expanded to include ways that the modern–day surveyor can leave large footsteps behind for other to find in the future. At least three court cases will be studied on the issue of legal descriptions.
Legal Research and the Land Surveyor – full day (or half day)
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Nowhere is this maxim truer than in the professional services arena. The difference between the good surveyor and the bad surveyor isn't that the good surveyor knows all of the answers. It's that the good surveyor knows how to find the answers. This seminar will explore the law, the sources of the law, and the difference between law and equity. The court system will be studied and legal writings will be introduced. Sources for finding the law will be discussed. The legal research project will be studied from beginning to end. A live internet search will be conducted that will include finding the law on several key areas that affect surveyors in their everyday practice, including the following:; liability; statutes of limitations; boundary disputes; property law; deeds and instruments of conveyance; and contracts. Participants will come away with a better understanding of the law and how it affects the professional land surveyor. Workshop requires a live Internet connection for actual on–line research.
Marketable Record Title Act – half day (or full day)
The Model Marketable Title Act is slowing but perceptibly making its way across the country and being enacted in one form or another. Currently, 20 plus states have enacted some form of the model act. Florida has one of the oldest enacted Marketable Record Title Acts (MRTA) on the books (1963) and has case law decisions based on the Act. What, if any, impact does the Act have on the surveyor in private practice? Maybe more than you realize. Florida's MRTA will be studied as a guide and an example of how the Act is or will impact the private practice surveyor. Several Florida cases dealing with the subject will be examined and discussed in class. Full day course will include an introduction to property law, principles of title, problems with title, title insurance, and the surveyor's role in real estate transactions.
Pincushion Effect (or The Multiple Monument Dilemma) – full day (or half day)
In the year 2008, in some parts of the country, 160 years or more have lapsed since the last Deputy Surveyors of the General Land Office left the field. In that time span we have seen the loss of the monuments that once stood on the corners of our sectionalized nation. But in their place, like sprouts popping out of the earth from planted seed, we are seeing a proliferation of corner monuments. The problem isn't just confined to the sectionalized lands, but it has manifested itself in the Lot and Block, and Metes and Bounds surveying arenas as well. This phenomena has taken on several different names:; “Pin Farm,” “Pipe Factory,” “Monument Mania,” “Steel Mill,” and the like. But the one name that seems to have risen to the top is “Pincushion.” This seminar will explore the causes and the effects of the pincushion phenomena. This study will include the surveyor's misunderstanding and/or misapplication of surveying principles, rules of evidence, and the law. The participants will study solutions found in case law and explore remedies to many common problems.
Property Rights and the Land Surveyor – full day (or half day)
What are real property rights and where do they come from? Should the land surveyor concern himself/herself with property rights? How have the courts reacted to the issue of property rights and the land surveyor? These and other issues will be examined in this full day seminar. Topics to be covered include: written and unwritten rights, intent and how it is found and interpreted, subsequent acts of the parties, senior/junior rights, adverse possession, estoppel, and more. These issues will be covered through court case decisions taken from across the country. Although property rights are determined by state law, and each state is a little different, the seminar participant will see many of these difference along with many of the similarities.
Retracement and the 1973 Manual – full day (or half day)
There is much confusion in the surveying community with regard to the land surveyor's duties and responsibilities. Nowhere is this confusion more profound than in the interpretation of the Bureau of Land Management's 1973 Manual of Surveying Instructions (the “Manual”). If there is one document surveyors think they know and understand, it's the Manual. Yet case after case indicate that just the opposite is true. Chapter III, (The System of Rectangular Surveys); Chapter V, (Lost and Obliterated Corners); and Chapter VI, (Resurveys) will be studied extensively to find out what they really say. Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) cases will be studied that flesh out the principles and the sections being studied. Other civil cases will also be studied on the interpretation of this important document.
Water Boundaries – full day (or half day)
This seminar will cover the basic concepts behind water boundaries and how those concepts affect the private practice land surveyor. The history of water boundaries will be discussed including the “equal footing” doctrine, “navigability,” “submerged lands,” “mean high tide,” “high water mark,” “low water mark,” and other issues affecting the identification and location of the boundary between the upland owner and submerged lands belonging to the sovereign. Necessary to any discussion of water boundaries is the commerce power of the Federal Government and the concepts of public and private waters. Non–navigable and man–made waters will also be discussed. The riparian and littoral rights of the upland owner and the problems facing the boundary surveyor will be studied. At least six court cases will be studied on the issue of water boundaries.
What Went Wrong? – full day (or half day)
What happens when our “rules of surveying” come against what the law says and what equity demands? Our rules of surveying give way to the law and equity, often leaving the land surveyor wondering:; “What Went Wrong?” This seminar will explore the answer to this question by a detailed study of four recent court cases where the surveyor and the survey went terribly astray resulting painful lessons we can all learn from studying the cases, without having to endure the pain ourselves. These lessons are much better learned in a seminar environment rather than in the real world.
Jeffery N. Lucas is in private practice in Birmingham, Alabama. He has been in the surveying business since 1976 and a licensed professional since 1984. Jeff is a licensed land surveyor registered in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, as well as a licensed attorney and member of the Alabama State Bar. He is a mediator registered on the Alabama State Court Mediator Roster, specializing in adverse possession, boundary disputes, professional liability, real property, and zoning and land use.