People ex rel. Department of Transportation v. Fansler

The Department of Transportation obtained an injunction ordering Fansler to remove portions of a levee that is on his farmland. In one section the levee forms an angle: one line extends northwest from the vertex and the other line goes west. Intending to order the removal of the northwest line, the trial judge instead entered an order mistakenly directing Fansler to remove the northeast line, which did not exist. Fansler leveled the west or lower line. Not wanting the landowner to bear the cost of his mistake, the court later ruled that Fansler had substantially complied with the terms of the…