Fay Securities Co. v. Mortgage Guarantee Co.

BARNARD, P. J.

This action involves the boundary lines of certain lots lying between Workman Street and Pasadena Avenue in Los Angeles. Pasadena Avenue comes into Workman Street at a rather sharp angle. A triangular tract between these two streets was subdivided into lots, the map being recorded in 1878. The lots in question face easterly upon Workman Street and westerly upon Pasadena Avenue. Because of the angles at which the streets run, the southerly line of each lot is longer than -its northerly line. The recorded map shows each lot in question with a frontage of fifty feet on Workman Street and a frontage of fifty-two feet on Pasadena Avenue. The length of the southerly line of each lot is shown in feet but the degrees of the angles are not shown.

The plaintiff owns lot 26 in this tract. The defendant Mortgage Guarantee Company owns the adjoining lot on the south, which is lot 25. The defendants Skinner own lot 27, which is to the north of lot 26. All of these parties hold under deeds which describe the respective lots by reference to the above-mentioned map. The plaintiff acquired lot 26 in 1930. At that time, and for some years prior thereto, all three of- the lots in question were improved with brick buildings.

In 1935 the plaintiff brought this action. The complaint alleged, among other things, that the distance between the northerly and southerly boundary lines of lot 26 was fifty feet, but that the distance between the Skinner Building, to the north of lot 26, and the Mortgage Guarantee Company building to the south of that lot, was only 49.4 feet at the westerly end of the Skinner Building and 49.54 feet at the easterly end of that building. In other words, it was alleged that there was an encroachment of nearly a foot at one end of the building and about six inches at the other. It was then alleged that the plaintiff was unable to determine the location of the north and south boundaries of its lot or to tell which of the adjoining buildings encroached thereon, and that an actual controversy existed between the parties relating to the location of the northerly and southerly boundary lines of lot 26. It was alleged that the owner of each lot and their

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predecessors had paid taxes on each lot, respectively, for more than fifty-seven years. The prayer was for declaratory relief; that the court determine the true boundary lines of lot 26 and whether or not either of the adjoining buildings encroached upon that lot; that in the event the court found that either of the adjoining buildings thus encroached it order the encroaching defendant to remove any such portion of his building; and that the plaintiff be given proper writs to compel the removal of any encroaching portions of the adjoining buildings.