Lundy v. Lakin

PEEK, J.

This action was instituted by plaintiff C. A. Lundy to quiet title to certain mining land located in Plumas County described in the original patent thereof as the Mammoth Quartz Mine, embracing approximately 252 acres. The complaint contained the usual allegations to quiet title by adverse possession. Defendant J ames T. Lakin filed his answer denying the material allegations of the complaint, and by a cross-complaint alleged that he was the owner in fee of the land in question and sought a decree quieting his title. Upon the issues so raised the cause proceeded to trial before the court sitting without a jury. Judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff and defendants have appealed.

The contentions of appellants as set forth in their 226-page opening brief and their 45-page reply brief are essentially attacks upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment, and are without merit since a review of the record reveals substantial, though conflicting, evidence in support of the judgment.

A summary of the evidence discloses that the original patent, which was issued in 1877, referred to the property as the “Mammoth Quartz Mine” and embraced some 252 acres, more or less. A consent decree in the federal Circuit Court for the District of California entered on November 19, 1888, determined the rights of plaintiff’s and defendants’ predecessors in interest to the entire patent and divided the property into two separate parcels. One parcel consisting of about 43 acres was awarded to plaintiff’s predecessor in interest and is not in dispute. This parcel is shown in yellow on the map of the property introduced in evidence and is referred to by the

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parties as the “yellow” parcel. The parcel in dispute is shown in pink on the aforementioned map. An undivided nine-tenths interest to this parcel was given to defendants’ predecessors in interest and the remaining one-tenth interest was given to plaintiff’s predecessor in trust to hold upon terms and conditions hereafter considered. Plaintiff’s claim of title to said parcel is, of necessity, based upon adverse possession since it is conceded that the record title thereto is in defendants.

His claim of title in this respect is based in part on a deed received on December 31, 1931, from his predecessor in interest which quitclaimed “All the right, title and interest of Plumas Eureka Corporation in and to the Mammoth Quartz Mine designated as Lot No. 44 in Township 22 North, Range 11 East, M.D.B.&.M.”