One man's quest to prove legitimacy of his fence
April 27, 2012
North Dakota: ...ended this week after two years and hearings in five courts. A North Dakota horse rancher, La Verne Koenig, reached the end of appeals this week when Judge Ralph Erickson dismissed his case. In May 2010, Koenig was found guilty in a trial court of failing to maintain a legal fence and forced to pay $5,400 in injuries relating to escaped livestock. Koenig contended that the legality of his fence was difficult to determine, considering the language dictating a fence in North Dakota was written in 1903.[1]
From there, Koenig appealed the ruling to the North Dakota Court of Appeals, and then the North Dakota Supreme Court. The high court disagreed with all eleven arguments made by Koenig's attorneys, including that the fence law is vague and arbitrarily enforced.[1]
Koenig's next step was to take the case to the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota, where he tried to sue every county attorney in North Dakota. When that did not work, Koenig appealed the $5,400 judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which referred the case back to the District of North Dakota. That was the end of the line for Koenig, since Judge Erickson dismissed the case this week.[2]
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