Helm v. Bollman

WARNS, J. pro tern.

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Plaintiffs appeal from a money judgment in their favor against the defendants Fred Boll-man and Larry Brown, doing business as Bollman and Brown Logging Company, in an action brought to recover damages arising by reason of trespass by said defendants upon land owned by plaintiffs and the removing therefrom of certain timber without the consent and permission of the plaintiffs.

The trial court found that the defendants trespassed upon plaintiffs’ land and removed certain timber of the reasonable value of $2,911.20; that the trespass was not wilful or malicious; that defendants, or their principal, lessor, or

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immediate predecessor in title, did not have the boundary line between their land and the land of plaintiffs surveyed by a surveyor licensed under the laws of the State of California to practice land surveying but relied upon a survey made by themselves of the boundary lines of the property.

At the time of the commission of the trespass section 3346 of the Civil Code provided in part:

“For wrongful injuries to timber, trees, or underwood upon the land of another, or removal thereof, the measure of damages is three times such a sum as would compensate for the actual detriment, except where the trespass was casual and involuntary, or committed under the belief that the land belonged to the trespasser, . . .; in which eases the damages are a sum equal to the actual detriment.”

This section was repealed in 1957 and the present Civil Code, section 3346, was enacted. (Stats. 1957, ch. 2346.) The section now reads:

“Injuries to timber, trees, etc.; . . .

“(a) For wrongful injuries to timber, trees, or underwood upon the land of another, or removal thereof, the measure of damages is three times such sum as would compensate for the actual detriment, except that where the trespass was casual or involuntary, or that the defendant in any action brought under this section had probable cause to believe that the land on which the trespass was committed was his own or the land of the person in whose service or by whose direction the act was done, the measure of damages shall be twice the sum as would compensate for the actual detriment, and excepting further where the wood was taken by the authority of highway officers for the purpose of repairing a public highway or bridge upon the land or adjoining it, in which ease judgment shall only be given in a sum equal to the actual detriment.