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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 0-284 / 09-1257 Filed June 30, 2010

BRUNO G. LENZINI, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. ALBERT H. GOMEZ and ELEANORE M. GOMEZ, Defendants-Appellants. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert A. Hutchison, Judge.

Albert and Eleanore Gomez appeal from the district court's order quieting title in land to Bruno Lenzini. REVERSED.

Jerrold Wanek and Robert C. Gainer of Garten & Wanek, Des Moines, for appellants. Thomas S. Reavely of Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellee.

Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Potterfield and Danilson, JJ.

2 POTTERFIELD, J. I. Background Facts and Proceedings In 1961, Albert and Eleanore Gomez bought property on the north side of Des Moines. On the lot located to the immediate south of the Gomez property was a church. The church's parking lot adjoined the Gomez property to the north. In roughly 1996, Albert built a fence on the southern edge of his property.1 Reverend Donald E. Bennett and church members agreed that a fence between the two properties was a good idea. The Gomezes maintained the land north of the fence, and the church maintained the land south of the fence. In November of 2007, Bruno Lenzini purchased the church lot. Lenzini had the property surveyed, and the survey revealed that the fence was not located on the boundary line between his property and the Gomezes' property. Rather, the fence was located to the south of the actual boundary line and encroached on Lenzini's property. Albert offered to purchase the strip of land to the north of the fence that Lenzini claimed was his, but Lenzini requested that Albert move the fence to the legal boundary line between their lots. Albert

refused. Lenzini filed a petition to quiet title in the disputed strip of property. The district court ordered that title in the real estate be quieted in Lenzini. The

Gomezes appeal, arguing Reverend Bennett had acquiesced to the fence as a boundary line for more than ten years.

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Though there was disagreement as to exactly when the fence was built, both parties agree that the fence was in place for the requisite time period to assert a claim under the doctrine of boundaries by acquiescence.

3 II. Standard of Review Because this matter was tried in equity, our review is de novo. 2 Iowa R. App. P. 6.907. We give weight to the factual findings of the district court,

especially when considering the credibility of witnesses, but we are not bound by them. Iowa R. App. P. 6.904(3)(g); Owens v. Brownlie, 610 N.W.2d 860, 865 (Iowa 2000). III. Boundaries by Acquiescence The doctrine of boundaries by acquiescence states, "If it is found that the boundaries and corners alleged to have been recognized and acquiesced in for ten years have been so recognized and acquiesced in, such recognized boundaries and corners shall be permanently established." Iowa Code

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