PFAFF, J.
The appellant brought this action against the appellees seeking to enjoin them from proceeding further in the construction of a partition fence, which fence the Township Trustee had already begun to erect on and along a portion of the partition line between the lands of the appellant Jesse Haley and the lands of the appellee Lillie Medlock, and asking for a restraining order without notice. The issues were formed on the appellant's complaint and the answer
The appellant alleged in his complaint that he owned 54 acres of land in the SW 1/4 of S. 27, T. 3 N., R. 3 E. in Washington County, Indiana, and the appellee Lillie Medlock owned 120 acres in the south half of said section which lay to the east and south of appellant's land; that the appellees were trying to get appellant to build a portion of the partition fence on the lines between said lands different from what the statute required him to build and that the trustee was already constructing a portion of the fence for him contrary to the statute.
Trial was to the court which found against appellant and in favor of appellee Lillie Medlock on her cross-complaint that there existed prior to 1949 an agreement between the parties and their predecessors by which each party built, repaired and maintained his left hand portion of the fence in question, being different from the statutory provision. That the appellee, Lillie Medlock, had built her portion of the fence and that appellant should be ordered to build, repair and maintain his left hand part likewise. "Lillie Medlock is obligated and required to build, maintain and repair that portion of the partition fence between said defendant and the plaintiff herein beginning at the south on the road and running thence generally north a distance of 78 rods, more or less, to the point where said partition fence turns and runs due east and west, that the plaintiff build, maintain and repair that portion of said partition fence which runs due east
The errors assigned upon appeal are the overruling of appellant's motion for new trial, which challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the legality of the finding.
The statute (Burns' 1933, Sec. 30-202) clearly recognizes the right of adjacent landowners to agree among themselves as to what portions of a partition fence shall be built and kept in repair by the respective landowners. Lowe's Revision McDonald's Treatise Fundamentals of Indiana Jurisprudence, Ch. XXX, Sec. 2, p. 473. Our Indiana courts have held that such a division contrary to that provided by statute is valid and lawful. Baynes v. Chastain (1879), 68 Ind. 376; Bartlett v. State (1917), 186 Ind. 16, 114 N.E. 692; Retter v. Retter (1942), 110 Ind.App. 659, 40 N.E.2d 385.
If there is any evidence of probative value to support the findings of the trial court, it is the duty of this court
Judgment affirmed.
NOTE. — Reported in 123 N.E.2d 921.
Comment
User Comments