News & Thought Leadership from Sulloway & Hollis

Attorneys Derek Lick and Kelly Ovitt Puc Prevail at Trial in Boundary Line Dispute Involving New Hampshire Wind Farm

The Sulloway team of Atty. Derek Lick and Atty. Kelly Ovitt Puc have prevailed at trial in the Grafton County Superior Court in a contentious property line dispute on behalf of a timberland and forestry management company client. The client asserted that a wind energy developer was failing to make payment to it with respect to a particular commercial wind turbine as required under a long-term lease. The developer claimed that the wind turbine, which was part of a large wind farm, was located not on the client’s property, but on an adjacent parcel of land owned by a third-party.

Combining Derek’s litigation experience and Kelly’s real estate knowledge, Sulloway filed suit on behalf of the client and presented expert testimony at trial from a seasoned and well-respected surveyor who explained that the wind turbine straddled the historical boundary line along the ridge line at issue in the case. The wind energy developer asserted through its own experts’ testimony that the boundary line was located elsewhere based on new topographic data and aerial photography. The case presented an interesting issue of how to best determine the location of property boundary lines when new technology might call into question the accuracy and precision of historic surveys using natural monuments and older, and arguably less sophisticated surveying equipment. The trial court determined that the boundary line was located where Derek and Kelly’s client claimed it to be – along a historical line.