The Public Price of Perjury

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that the former owners of a million dollar lot have filed a motion alleging that retired Judge Richard McLean and his lawyer wife Edith Stevens fabricated evidence to win their claim.

They have marshaled five witnesses to that effect, including one who claims she saw Edith Stevens kicking up dirt on the Don and Susie Kirlin property after the lawsuit was filed.  Also included is a photograph of the land taken the day after the lawsuit was filed which doesn't appear to show a path.

Specifically, the Kirlins point to the testimony of Josephine Touchton, a neighbor who lives about a half-mile from the disputed property. Touchton wrote in her affidavit that she often walked by the Kirlins' lot but never noticed a path until after she saw someone working on the land last winter.

"I saw a woman who looked like Edie Stevens in the north corner of the Kirlin vacant lot," Touchton wrote. "The woman I saw was tromping, stomping and kicking the ground, causing vegetation and dirt to rise from the ground in the area where the dirt path ... later appeared."

One of the most damning witnesses is likely to be the surveyor who surveyed the lot.  He says that he was told by his boss to include a path on the survey that he didn't see.

The News report isn't clear that the survey was used in the original trial, but if it was, it is a case where evidence was being manufactured even if the surveyor was never asked to lie.

Surveyor William Stone was instructed to include the disputed pathway on a drawing of the Kirlins' lot but was never asked to lie about his own observations.

It would seem to this observer that when a surveyor is asked to include a feature on a document being prepared for a lawsuit that he doesn't see, he is being asked to lie.

This brings us to an often repeated theme.  There is no penalty for perjury.  There is no penalty for attempting to steal (there is no other word for it) property through the courts.  Lawyers enrich themselves, though usually not as plaintiffs, in a court system that is being run as crookedly as though its judges were directly appointed by the local mafia.

This system will last as long as the public is willing to tolerate it.

Comments

[David Carpenter]

I am a Professional Engineer with an engineering and surveying company in Broomfield and am working on achieving licensure in Land Surveying. If these allegations are true about the surveyor misrepresenting the "path" on his plat, there should and will be serious ramifications.

First, a surveyor is an impartial gatherer of evidence for the court. He or she has professional liability for decisions made. Contrary to popular belief, the decision of a surveyor in locating boundary lines is technically an "opinion." Only court judgments decide the boundary lines (especially when there is a dispute between neighbors).

So, there is the rub. If a surveyor signed and sealed a plat showing a nonexistent path, he would face personal and professional civil liability from the aggrieved parties, even if the surveyor's boss ordered him to show the path. Likely, the surveyor would be covered by Errors and Omissions Insurance through his company which would attempt to settle the lawsuit.

In addition to the civil liability, the Kirlins should file a complaint with the Colorado Board of Registration for Architects, Professional Engineers, and Professional Land Surveyors. The Board will then review the evidence and likely provide sanctions on the surveyor, which could include suspension or loss of his licensure.

The idea that a surveyor would shirk his professional duty to the courts and his profession disgusts me. I believe that our codes of ethics should eliminate these shenanigans. However, I am a realist; people sometimes behave in their own self-interest. I am guessing that in this case, the surveyor would not be paid if he came up with the "wrong" result. However, we chose our professions voluntarily; we must do the correct thing no matter how it affects our bottom line.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

David Carpenter, PE
Northglenn, CO