NCSS is partnering with the SW Piedmont Chapter to present this seminar.

Registration begins at 7:30 am and class concludes at 4:30 pm.  Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.

Topic:

• Mock Trial - Hobert v. Rogers by Gary Kent

It has been 10 years since the NCSS has held a mock trial. If you have never attended one, you need to take advantage of this rare opportunity. We are very fortunate to have Gary Kent as the moderator, NC Senator Ted Alexander (District 44) as the Judge, and NC Senator Brad Overcash (District 43) as one of the attorneys. 

The Cast
Senator Ted Alexander – Judge
Senator Brad Overcash – Attorney
Greg Brittain, PLS – Attorney
Josh White, PE, PLS - Surveyor
Steve Amos, PLS - Surveyor
Brian Keever, PLS – Plaintiff
Gabe Brown, PLS – Defendant

Goals for this Mock Trial 

1. To demonstrate how a court case involving a boundary dispute and surveyors who disagree over a boundary line determination might unfold.
2. To show how the legal process of taking testimony and admitting evidence is used by attorneys to build their case and to undermine the opposition’s case.
3. To educate surveyors as to the application of appropriate boundary law principles.
4. To actively engage the audience by dividing them into individual juries of 6-8 persons each to consider the testimony and evidence, and deliberate the case.

Topic Description:

Jesse Hobert was granted a right of way easement by virtue of a 2010 Stipulated Order of the North Carolina Supreme Court in order to access his lots 19 through 22 in Mohawk Lake Subdivision. The easement is over part of a 200 acre tract now owned by Daniel Vincent and which completely surrounds Mohawk Lake and Mohawk Lake Subdivision. 

Charles Rogers believes, based on where his surveyor William Foster surveyed the back line of his Lots 23 and 24, that the drive Hobert has been using is actually across the back of his (Rogers’) lots, and not within Vincent’s property. 

To the contrary, Hobert’s surveyor Joseph Meyers believes that the back lot lines are some 30 to 40 feet northeast and closer to the lake from where surveyor Foster set the line. Therefore, Hobert claims his drive is not on Rogers’ property, but rather within Vincent’s property as it is supposed to be. He is claiming that Rogers has been interfering with his use of his easement and drive. Both surveyors provided seemingly credible justification for their resolution of the lot lines.  

Two attorneys and a judge will participate with the audience sitting in as jury as the plaintiff, defendant and the two surveyors testify, and we explore the chains of title, conflicting plats and surveys of the Mohawk Lake Subdivision lots and the related boundary law principles. 

As an integral part of the trial, questions will be taken from the audience. In addition, the judge will discuss the process and procedures in such a case and the attorneys will offer guidance and suggestions to those who would testify as expert witnesses.

Instructor:

Gary Kent is a part-time Professional Surveyor with Schneider Geomatics, a land surveying and consulting engineering firm based in Indianapolis. He is in his 40th year with the firm and upon his transition to part-time status in 2020, he formed Meridian Land Consulting, LLC through which he provides training, consulting and expert witness services.

Gary is a graduate of Purdue University with a BS in Land Surveying; he is registered to practice as a professional surveyor in Indiana and Michigan. He served as chair of the joint ALTA/NSPS Workgroup on the ALTA/NSPS Standards from 1995 to 2021. Gary is a past-president of both the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and the Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors.

A member of the adjunct faculty for Purdue University from 1999-2006, Gary taught Boundary Law, Legal Descriptions, Property Surveying and Land Survey Systems. He was awarded “Outstanding Associate Faculty” and “Excellence in Teaching” awards for his efforts. Gary is on the faculty of GeoLearn (www.geo-learn.com), an online provider of continuing education and training for surveyors and other geospatial professionals. He is also a certified instructor for the International Right of Way Association.

Gary has served on the Indiana State Board of Registration for Professional Surveyors since 2004. He is frequently sought as an expert or consulting witness in cases involving boundaries, easements, riparian rights, survey standards, and land surveying practice. He has presented programs on boundary law, easements and rights of way, surveying standards and practice, and leadership multiple times in each of the 50 states and three times in Europe. He is also a columnist for The American Surveyor magazine.