Mattingly v. Houston

Singley, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This case is the end result of a boundary dispute between two neighbors, the Mattinglys and the Houstons, which has been before the Circuit Court for Montgomery County twice and before us in Mattingly v. Houston, 235 Md. 54 , 200 A. 2d 160 (1964). It all began in 1959 when the Mattinglys sold the Houstons a building site and conveyed to them a tract which, as a result of a surveyor’s error, was smaller than that which had been staked out on the ground, so that when the Houstons built their house, there was an encroachment. In 1962, the Houstons brought a bill in equity for the reformation of their deed.

The lower court (Shook, J.) granted the relief prayed, and we affirmed in Mattingly v. Houston, supra. In an opinion apparently dictated from the bench at the conclusion of the first trial below, Judge Shook said: “And the Court will instruct the plaintiff [Houston] to remove any portion of any wall that may project over and upon the property of Mr. and Mrs. Mat-tingly and to fill any excavation that may result after the removal of the projection, so that Mr. Mattingly and Mrs. Mattingly will be made whole as far as this is concerned.” No decree was entered, but the result was entered short on the docket, presumably by the clerk: “August 21, 1963 — Hearing before Judge Shook— ⁵⁹² Gill reporting — Court finds for Plaintiff. Plaintiff [Houston] to resurvey property — remove any portion of wall and to fill any excavation which lies on defendants [Mattingly’s] property. Costs to be paid by defendant.” It was from this docket entry that the first appeal was taken.

In August of 1966, the Mattinglys reopened the case with a petition for the issuance of a contempt citation against the Houstons, alleging their failure to comply with the court’s “decree.” A show cause order was issued but no answer seems to have been filed. By the time the case came on for hearing in April of 1968, one question remained: Did the order of 21 August 1963 only require that the Houstons fill in the excavation remaining after the removal of the portion of their wall which encroached on the Mattinglys’ land, or were they required to restore to original grade that portion of the Mattinglys’ land which had been disturbed when the Houstons’ house was built? At the end of the contempt hearing, the lower court (Shearin, J.) concluded: “It seems clear to the Court that what the Court intended, acting through Judge Shook, to do was to require the [Houstons] to fill a different excavation, namely, that excavation caused by the removal of the wall. That is, the area from which the stones themselves were removed and not some other excavation.

At least if that is not the actual intent of the Court’s language, it is the