Caballero v. Balamotis

MUSSELL, J.

In this action to quiet title, plaintiffs claim ownership of two parcels of land in the city of San Tsidro, in San Diego County. Parcel 2 is situate on the northeast corner of Willow Road, which runs north and south, and Bolton Hall Road, which runs east and west, in said city, and Parcel 1 adjoins it on the east. Parcel 2 extends approximately 368 feet north of Bolton Hall Road along Willow Road and 123 feet east thereof. Parcel 1 has a south frontage of 100 feet on Bolton Hall Road and extends northward therefrom approximately 343 feet. Defendants, whose property adjoins that of plaintiffs on the north, in their answer claim title to a strip of land approximately 10 feet wide, extending 100 feet east and west along and south of the north boundary line of Parcel 1, together with a strip of land extending 123 feet east and west, 3 feet wide at the west end and 10 feet wide at the east end, extending along and south of the north boundary line of Parcel 2. The trial court quieted title in the defendants in accordance with the prayer in their answer.

[60]

Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment on the ground that the findings and judgment are not supported by the evidence. We conclude that this contention is without merit.

Plaintiffs purchased Parcel 2 in the fall of 1951 and Parcel 1 in 1953. In January, 1952, plaintiffs caused Parcel 2 to be surveyed and learned that their property, according to the survey, extended northerly beyond a fence which was then in place along the south line of the property involved in this controversy. Plaintiffs removed the fence and on the same day, defendants replaced it, and this action was filed.

The record shows that defendants purchased their property lying north of the two parcels claimed by plaintiffs in 1946. In this connection defendant John Balamotis testified that when he bought his property there was a house on it and a tool shack to the rear and south of the house on the disputed area; that his property was fenced on all sides and the fence on the south side of his property included the disputed area; that the tool shack was located on the disputed area north of Parcel 1; that he occupied and used all of the fenced property from 1946 to the date of the trial; that the fence along the south line of the disputed area has been maintained in place since 1946, except for a period of one day, in 1952, when the plaintiffs removed it; that as soon as he discovered that the fence had been removed, he immediately had it replaced.