Brent was wearing a bespoke suit. Laurel wore cream linen and sat perfectly upright. His lawyer did most of the conversation, using words like trust from bu into faith, modern survey methods, improvement value, and ambiguity. Ruth Ann let him talk. Harold testified with the dry precision of a man more interested in being precise than impressive. He explained the historic boundary, stone fence, survey markers, county records, errors in the Whitakers GPS-based survey, and the contractor’s failure to reconcile ancient physical monuments with the new approach.
The judge listened without much expression.
He then asked Brent’s lawyer three questions.
“Did your customers have notice of the historic fence line before the excavation?”
He hesitated. “They were at the tno d of a fence, Your Honor, but they disputed their legal importance.”
“The survey on which they relied on the 1871 limit record reference?”
“I would have to check…”
