Fugl v. Edwards

WILSON, J.

Defendant has appealed from a judgment quieting plaintiff’s title to real property.

The court found that decedent Knouse was at the time of his death and for a long time prior thereto had been the owner in fee and entitled to the possession of the property and that it was a part of his estate; that for more than 14 years, and for as much as five years in the aggregate and continuously prior to his death, he had been in actual occupation and in adverse possession of the property and had held possession of it under a claim of right hostile to the claim of defendant; that the latter had never been the owner of the property or in possession actually or constructively or entitled to possession thereof; that defendant’s defense to the action is barred by section 319 of the Code of Civil Procedure; that a deed to the property wherein defendant was named as grantee was never delivered to him or to anyone in his behalf.

The facts as shown by the evidence are as follows: In 1927, one Davis and wife executed a trust deed of the property to a trustee in which decedent was named as beneficiary securing

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a promissory note for the sum of $3,500; in October, 1933, Davis and wife, in consideration of $100 paid by decedent, executed a grant deed to the property in favor of defendant Edwards, the deed reciting that the property was subject to a trust deed which defendant assumed and agreed to pay. When the deed was recorded in the office of the county recorder in December, 1933, it bore a notation on the back thereof “When recorded please mail to Q. A. Knouse, 2034-8th Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif.”—this having been decedent’s residence at the time. The deed was presented to Davis by decedent for signature and after it was signed by Davis and wife it was delivered to decedent, who, as a notary public, certified to the acknowledgment thereof by the grantors. Davis and wife vacated the property in November, 1933, shortly after the execution of the deed. The document was found among decedent’s papers in his home in a box where he kept all the deeds to his various properties. The blanks in the deed and in the acknowledgment were all filled in the handwriting of the decedent.

Defendant testified that he never saw the deed until after the death of decedent; he never paid the trust deed referred to in the deed; he knew nothing about the trust deed or the amount secured thereby and did not know the name of the beneficiary.