There is a lawsuit in the news that should be of interest to all of us. This is not a boundary issue so much is it is an ethics issue. If you read this story carefully you will find that the plaintiff contends  "In the process of drafting engineer plans, the city used a land surveying firm also used by Camardo for work related to the Kalet wall. The lawsuit claims the city knowingly used privileged information from the firm to draft its plans."

There are other interesting tidbits in this news story about a boundary issue also. The plaintiff contends "The city is attempting to claim 1.9 feet of a storage room on his property that shares a wall with the Kalet building. According to the lawsuit, the storage room needs the Kalet wall for support." The plaintiff seeks "judgments that will establish the boundary line between the Kalet’s wall and his storage room, and will bar the city from placing any structures or makers on the Camardo property and the right-of-way."

Several things spring to my mind reading this story. It would appear that the Land Surveyor (or at least the same firm) in this case retraced the boundary for both land owners.  It would also appear that the Land Surveyor has shared information on one client with the other (this is the allegation). Apparently there is a common wall and this wall is part of a wall that is a storage room for one of the properties. Further this wall is encroaching over the boundary some 1.9 feet.

While times may be tough and there is certainly nothing wrong with surveying a property adjoining a property you have already surveyed, in this case it may have been a mistake. The problem is a perceived ethical conflict on the part of the Land Surveyor by the concerned parties. The presumption that the Land Surveyor is a disinterested third party evaporates under these circumstances. The problem with ethics is that it is not simply your beliefs as to what is ethical or not, it is what other people perceive as ethical.