Man sued for sawing neighbor’s garage in half isn’t liable, judge rules
A Minnesota home buyer who discovered days after the property closing that his garage had been sawed in half has lost a civil suit against the neighbor who did it.
Judge Lois Lang of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, ruled against home buyer Mark Besemann on May 29 because half of his garage was on the neighbor’s property, the Duluth News Tribune reports. Lang also ordered Besemann to pay $400 in attorney fees to the neighbor, Roger Weber.
Besemann had purchased the property in April 2013 from Weber’s sister, who had inherited the property from her and her brother’s father in 2012. Roger Weber has said he warned his sister he would take the garage down, and he assumed she still owned the property when he sawed it in half.
Besemann said he was aware of a family dispute over the property line, but he believed it could be worked out in neighborly negotiations, according to the story. He will also have to replace the septic system, which is also on Roger Weber’s property and has been disabled.