Denning v. Green

TUTTLE, J.,

pro tem.

This is an action brought to recover rents collected by appellant from property which belonged to respondents. It was tried by the court, and judgment for $920 was rendered against appellant. The appeal is from this judgment.

Defendant and appellant had possession of the real property from which said rentals accrued, he having acquired title from one Lichtenberg who claimed title from the state

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of California by virtue of a sale for delinquent taxes. This tax deed was declared void by the trial court and said decision was affirmed on appeal. This action for the collection of rentals, however, was pending before the final determination of the action involving the tax deed, and was not presented to the court for its determination until the decision in the first case, involving title to the lands from which the rent was derived, had become final. In the first action which was a simple suit to quiet title, the trial court found, among other things, that defendant and appellant had collected and retained $920 in rentals while he had possession of the real property. The trial court also found in that action that defendant and appellant had refused to accept the tender of plaintiffs, made in open court, to reimburse him for all taxes, penalties, costs and interest paid out and expended in the matter of his said tax title, as required by section 3898 of the Political Code.

As a conclusion of law, the court held that the tax sale to Lichtenberg was invalid and void. The judgment in said former action was in the usual form quieting the title of plaintiffs and respondents in the real property, against the title or claim of title of defendant and appellant M. Green.

It is contended that the evidence is insufficient to support the findings, in that respondent failed to prove ownership. There is1 no merit in this contention. A deed to respondents was admitted in evidence and also the decree in the former suit quieting their title. There was no attempt to show, nor was there any intimation in the evidence, that plaintiffs’ grantor was not the owner of the property at the time of the conveyance. Under such circumstances the presumption is that the grantor was the owner. This question is fully discussed and decided by Justice Finch