Boundary dispute results in lawsuit

A Jefferson County man is suing in a dispute over a property boundary line.

Robert F. Ford Jr. filed a lawsuit Sept. 24 in Jefferson County District Court against Harry H. Hatcher, citing a land boundary dispute.

According to the complaint, Ford owns an 11.11-acre tract of land adjacent to Hatcher's 45.353-acre tract in Jefferson County, but the location of the boundary line between the two properties is in dispute. Ford says the two tracts of land each call for a southern boundary line of 2,640 feet from opposite survey corners, a total of 5,280 feet but the actual distance between those two corners is only 4,910 feet.

The complaint states this discrepancy is from an 1895 survey that improperly placed a southeast corner marker on land that eventually became Hatcher's, but Hatcher has disregarded that argument and asserted his west boundary line is 2,640 feet from that improperly marked corner. Ford says Hatcher has erected a fence along that boundary line, encroaching 370 feet into the plaintiff's property.

Ford seeks the court to declare the proper boundary line marked by his property extending a full 2,640 feet from its southwest corner.

He also seeks attorney fees and is represented by attorneys Andrew P. Gertz and Paul W. Gertz of The Gertz Law Firm in Beaumont.

Jefferson County District Court case number: D-196142