In my last column we touched on the idea of “unchecked incompetent practice” and how that is a problem for the land surveying profession. This time around we are going to dive a little deeper with that idea. In a 1969 article entitle “The Professional Status of Land Surveyors,” Curtis Brown wrote, “professional liability is
Do incompetence and negligence mean the same thing? If you check standard references on torts, it seems that while negligence is a stand-alone tort (a civil wrong), incompetence is not. Incompetence is sometimes referred to as an element of the tort of negligence and incompetents are sometimes put away for their own good and the
If anyone has any questions about any past editions, any of the questions on the examinations, or on any of our State Specific courses, such as standards of practice or ethics, post them here and I will do my best to answer them. If you have any other open questions that you would like to
First Published in P.O.B. Magazine October 2018 No doubt many of you have already heard about the recent article that appeared on Bloomberg.com entitled “Land Surveyors Are Paying the Price of Progress” (“Paying the Price”).[1] In case you missed it, “Vizaline” is a company founded in 2014 that, “uses public information to draw lines on
In the January Edition of The Lucas Letter, we are studying the case of Rivers v. Lozeau, Florida Court of Appeals, 1989. This infamous case is the genesis for the “First Surveyor Concept” or simply “First Surveyor,” the case that singlehandedly created the concept that there is a third role for the land surveyor; that
The December Edition is our second ethics case of the year. We do an Ethics Edition in June and December. Some of you are writing me privately about this edition with some very interesting comments. I would love it if you would post your comments here so that others might have the benefit of your
Well, we’ve had some ups and downs with the Blog. Now, maybe, finally, we are on the upswing. The appearance isn’t exactly what I wanted. I wanted the comments to remain open for visitors to be able to read the comments to the Blog post without having to click on the little hotlink at the
In our October edition we studied the case of a retracement survey gone wrong. Wallace owns Lot 98 and his neighbor to the north, Griffin, own Lot 97 of the Bost Estates subdivision. The original monuments for the corners of the lots (“iron axles or stakes”) were set by Fisher in 1945. This included the
Hello friends. We finally have the blog working. To celebrate we are activating a new Coupon Code NEW1 that is good for 15% off of any of our Correspondence Courses. Pick the courses you want and apply the Coupon at checkout. NEW1 will expire Monday, November 11. Have a great weekend. Jeff Lucas