Bryant v. Blevins
Supreme Court of California
884 P.2d 1034 (1994)
The Reynoldses built a barbed wire fence between two parcels years before conveying their property to the Blevinses (defendants), telling them the fence marked the boundary; the fence was later discovered by a surveyor to encroach onto the neighboring parcel now owned by Bryant and Jackson (plaintiffs). The trial court applied the agreed-boundary doctrine, finding both the requisite original uncertainty about the true line and an agreement between the predecessor owners to fix the fence as the boundary, and the court of appeal affirmed; Bryant appealed.
Whether the agreed-boundary doctrine applies to fix a disputed property boundary where a legal instrument already establishes the true boundary and the party invoking the doctrine fails to prove that the original neighboring landowners, facing genuine uncertainty, agreed to fix the boundary somewhere else.