Lucas & Company, LLC

Principles & Practice – II

The Principles & Practice series is a focus on the fundamental principles of land surveying and how those principles impact land surveying practice. The case-in-chief for this edition is Lawyers Title v. Doubletree Partners, U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Cir., 2014. This case is about the little known (or not well-understood), relationship between the boundary survey and title insurance when the so-called ‘survey exception’ is removed from the title policy affording the purchaser ‘survey coverage.’ ‘Survey coverage’ means that the title company will provide insurance coverage on the boundary survey proffered by the purchaser when obtaining title insurance. In essence, the survey will be insured (guaranteed) by the title company as “complete and accurate,” rendering the land surveyor the ultimate guarantor of the accuracy of the survey in the event that the title company has to pay damages under the policy for a faulty survey. This edition deals with the concept of ‘survey coverage’ and other principles affecting the practice of land surveying. This is a 2-Page Letter covering one Court Opinion consisting of 23 pages. Altogether, this is a 25-Page document with a 10-Question examination based on the text of the newsletter and the case-in-chief.

The Principles & Practice series is a focus on the fundamental principles of land surveying and how those principles impact land surveying practice. The case-in-chief for this edition is Southeastern Reprographic v. State Registration Board of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2016. This case is about the definition of the “Practice of Land Surveying.” This is a fundamental practice issue, in that it separates the licensed and regulated practice of surveying from other, similar, activities. This case involves an unlicensed GIS company that conducted GPS field surveys to inventory the physical assets of an electric cooperative and complied the data into a GIS. The Pennsylvania Board consider this to be the practice of land surveying. As a result, the definition of the “Practice of Land Surveying” became the Ultimate Issue in the case. This is a 2-Page Letter covering one Court Opinion consisting of 14 pages. Altogether, this is a 16-Page document with a 10-Question examination based on the text of the newsletter and the case-in-chief.