Skipper v. Paugh

McWilliams, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Skipper sued Paugh in trespass quare clausum fregit. A Garrett County jury, on 29 April 1965, rendered a verdict in favor of Paugh (appellee). This is Skipper’s appeal. 1 The locale, at one time part of the grounds of the Deer Park Hotel, is about 1,000 feet west of the corporate limits of the town of Deer Park.

The land in dispute lies in the northwest and southwest quadrants of the intersection formed by Md. Route 135 (Mountain Lake Park to Deer Park) and the county road known as the Broadford Road (Oakland to Deer Park). Skipper, whose land is in the southwest quadrant, claims the location of his northern boundary is 15 feet (in some places as much as 30 feet) north of the Broadford Road. Paugh, whose land occupies the northwest quadrant, claims to the north side of the road and says Skipper’s northern boundary is the south side of the road. The facts, to the extent we have been able to ferret them out, appear to be as follows.

In 1943 J. Edward Helbig, a former county commissioner, bought a tract of 137.5 acres, with about ⁵⁰⁶ a mile of frontage on Route 135. The Broadford Road divides the northernmost part (about J4) from the southernmost part. About a year later he made his first sale, 8.61 acres, to George Paugh (not the appellee). The 4th line of that tract is described as running “North 26° 52' East 327.20 feet to a stake standing on the South margin of the aforesaid Broadford Road.” The 5th line runs “with the south margin thereof, North 64° 45' West 300 feet to a stake.” Another year went by before he made his second sale.

That was to Cecil Ramsey. The 1st line of his 8.5 acre tract runs “to a stake standing on the North margin of the County Road known as the Broadford Road.” The 2nd line runs “with the North margin thereof * * * to a stake.” Mr. Helbig testified he intended Ramsey to be north of the road and George Paugh to be south of the road. In 1948 George Paugh sold his 8.61 acre tract to Romes-burg, using precisely the same description. In 1951 Romesburg sold the same 8.61 acre tract to Breedlove, again using the same description.

Nine months later Breedlove sold Skipper .23 of an acre (100 x 100) at the intersection of the two roads. Skipper’s description begins at a stake at the end of the 4th line of the description in the deed from George Paugh to Romesburg which, it will be recalled, ran to “a stake standing on the South margin of * * * Broadford Road.” Skipper’s beginning point, therefore, has to be on the South side of the Broadford Road. His 3rd line runs “to a stake standing on the 5th line” of George Paugh to Romesburg, and his 4th line runs “with said 5th line reversed * * * to the place of beginning.” In George Paugh to Romesburg, as has been pointed out, the 5th line runs “with the South margin” of the Broadford Road. In 1956 Skipper bought from Breedlove an additional 1.45 acres, immediately adjacent to the .23 acre lot and with frontage on both Route 135 and the Broadford Road.

In the deed the tract is described generally as lying along Route 135 and “along the South side of the Broad Ford [sic] County Road.” The 4th line of the description runs “with the South margin of the Broad Ford [sic] County Road and with part of the 5th line reversed of the 8.61 acre tract” which, it will be remembered, also ran “with the South margin” of the Broadford Road. Although the deed is not in the record Harry Paugh (ap ⁵⁰⁷ pellee) testified he acquired Cecil Ramsey’s 8.5 acres on the north side of the Broadford Road in 1955. Skipper attempts to explain away the plain language of the deeds by saying his description is wrong and that, moreover, in 1949, the location of the Broadford Road was changed. It very well may be, as he says, that his road frontage along Route 135 (180 feet according to his deeds), if measured from the line claimed by the adjoining owner to the south, would extend about 15 feet beyond the north side of the Broadford Road.

All this proves, however, is that there is something awry in the description of the adjoining owner because it is clear that Skipper was Breedlove’s first grantee, that George Paugh was Helbig’s first grantee, and that Breedlove acquired the same property from George Paugh via Romesburg. To support his claim that the location of the road was changed we have only his bare statement. To the contrary we have the testimony of three quite respectable witnesses. Commissioner Helbig, who demonstrated considerable familiarity with the area, said flatly, “The road has never changed.

The present road they are