Q: If I prove a surveyor committed perjury on his Affidavit used in a property dispute will the ruling be overturned
I am filing complaints with the WV Board of Professional Surveyors and the Registration of Engineers. A local surveyor lied and committed perjury on his Affidavit entered as evidence in my property dispute where I was the defendant.
I have Solid proof. This surveyor had to determine what was left of a 17.5 acre tract of land after excluding 29 conveyances from said tract. There was supposed to be 7.1 acres. However those 29 parcels totaled 13.91 acres only leaving 3.59 acres, not 7.10 acres. The surveyor came up with 12.74 in conveyances. However the surveyor failed to deduct 3 parcels and made several errors on other parcels. Nevertheless the surveyor then took his 12.74 in conveyances and took 2.36 acres away from the property that 3 of my family homes are on to create the 7.1 acre incorrectly recorded parcel. This parcel has been incorrectly recorded for 70 years and no research or Survey was ever done by any of the prior owners. I wanted to no if this would change the ruling
A:
Be aware that a mistake is not perjury.
You may or may not be able to reverse the judgment depending upon whether you had the affidavit before the judgment was rendered and whether you had access to the information showing the error.
The general rule for a motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence is that you did not know, and could not have reasonably discovered through the exercise of due diligence the evidence prior to trial.
There’s also the question of timing. You have only a short window of time after a judgment is signed to file and have a hearing on your motion for new trial.
As far as action against the surveyor, usually a licensed professional like a surveyor only owes a duty to the client who hires them.
Anthony M. Avery and Peter J. Weinman agree with this answer
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