Nobel v. You Bet Mining Co.

MAXEY, J., pro tem.

The amended complaint alleges that the plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest, on February 7, 1930, located and claimed as a placer mining claim certain lands described as the north half of section 30, township 16 north, range 10 east, M. D. B. & M. (excepting certain mining claims and locations therein particularly specified) located in the county of Nevada, state of California; that the plaintiffs now have a right to the exclusive possession of such property; that the defendant, You Bet Mining Company, entered on said mining claim and property in 1933, and has asserted some claim or right to the possession of a portion of the mining claim above set forth, and that it is now mining and conducting other operations in connection with said mining venture upon the claim of the plaintiffs herein. The plaintiffs seek

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to enjoin the said defendants from occupying said premises and from conducting any mining or other operations thereon, together with the usual and general prayer for relief.

The defendants answered to the amended complaint, denying that the plaintiffs or their predecessors in interest ever took possession of said property or that they are now in possession of said property, admit that they (the defendants) are in possession of said property and claim title thereto by adverse possession. The defendants further affirmatively plead that L. W. Simpson and Jennie A. Simpson, in conjunction with some of the plaintiffs, attempted to locate and claim as a placer mine a certain portion of the property set forth in the plaintiffs’ amended complaint and that the defendants are the successors in interest of the said L. W. Simpson and Jennie A. Simpson by virtue of a deed made by the Simpsons to the defendants herein subsequent to the filing of the original complaint herein but prior to the filing of the answer. The defendants at the time of answering filed a cross-complaint against said plaintiffs, alleging that the plaintiffs and cross-defendants entered upon said lands and premises as the sublessee of the You Bet Mining Company, one of the defendants herein, and that any title acquired by the plaintiffs and cross-defendants by virtue of the location and claim of the placer mine specified in the complaint inures to the benefit of the defendant corporation, You Bet Mining Company, and that the plaintiffs and cross-defendants hold said property in trust for the said corporation. The said defendant, You Bet Mining Company, claims title to and right to the possession of the mining property involved herein. The defendant, You Bet Mining Company, by said cross-complaint, seeks to have its right in and to the property adjudged and its title thereto quieted and, as an alternative thereto, should the court find that the location and claim of the property involved is vested in the plaintiffs and cross-defendants, that it be declared that they hold such property in trust for the use and benefit of the defendant and cross-complainant, You Bet Mining Company, and further seeking to quiet the title of the said defendant and cross-complainant in and to certain ditches that traversed the property involved herein.