Bartholomae Corp. v. W. B. Scott Investment Co.

DORAN, J.

The present controversy involves certain rights of way referred to as the “Blue Boad” and the “Bed Boad, ’ ’ the legal descriptions of which are long and involved. Appellant, claiming ownership of Diamond Bar Banch of 7,500 acres in Los Angeles County, seeks to quiet title thereto,

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alleging possession by itself and predecessors for 20 years, and payment of taxes. Respondents, as owners of the adjoining Tres Hermanos Rancho of 2,500 acres, 812 acres of which lie in Los Angeles County, claim title to the above mentioned easements which provide ingress and egress to and from Tres Hermanos Rancho. Both parties derive title from one W. F. Pundenberg.

Diamond Bar Ranch is bounded, in part, on the west, by Brea Canyon Road, a public highway; Tres Hermanos Rancho lies easterly of Diamond Bar Ranch. The west end of the so-called Blue Road intersects Brea Canyon Road, is approximately 2% miles long and connects with the so-called Red Road, the west end of which is about 1% miles from Tres Hermanos. There is little controversy concerning the Red Road, respondents having documentary evidence of title to a right of way for road and highway purposes over an 80-foot strip, although as found by the trial court, the original route had been changed “at the place near which plaintiff constructed a dam,” in which altered location respondents’ rights attached. The main dispute relates to the Blue Road which connects with the Red Road, and according to respondents’ claim, was intended to be used as a necessary connecting link with the Red Road. Concerning the Blue Road, there is no direct documentary evidence.

The trial court originally found that appellant’s ownership of the Diamond Bar Ranch was subject to the respondents’ “right of way for road and highway purposes over all of a strip of land eighty (80) feet wide,” referred to as the Red Road, as deeded to respondents’ predecessors in title but later altered as hereinbefore mentioned. The respondents were found to have no other interest in or over the Diamond Bar Ranch. Judgment was entered accordingly on August 13, 1951.

Thereafter, respondents made a motion for a new trial and on October 24, 1951, the trial judge in ruling on such motion, ordered “that the Findings and Judgment be modified to show an easement by implication 20 feet wide over the so-called ‘Blue’ road for access to ‘Red’ road.” The findings were accordingly modified to show that Pundenberg, at the time of conveying the Red Road easement to respondents’ predecessors, intended to and did convey by implication, “an easement twenty feet wide for road purposes (the Blue Road) connecting with and running from what is now known as Brea Canyon Road to and connecting with the westerly end of the hereinbefore described eighty-foot right of