Wilhelm v. Robertson

LENNON, P. J.

This is an action to quiet title to a certain parcel of land situated in the county of Marin.

The record discloses the following facts: On June 14, 1904, plaintiff purchased from the Tamalpais Land and Water Company a certain lot of land which is the subject of this controversy. On the twenty-fifth day of February, 1915, he executed a deed of trust, conveying the same to A- W. Foster, Jr., and M. T. Freitas, as security for the payment of a certain indebtedness referred to in the deed of trust.' In this conveyance the plaintiff used precisely the same description

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as that contained in the deed under which he acquired the property. Having failed to pay his indebtedness, one of the trustees, under the power conferred in the trust deed, sold the property in question to defendant May J. Robertson. Thereafter the plaintiff brought this action to quiet title to the property. Judgment went for defendants, and plaintiff appeals.

As ground for reversal it is the claim of plaintiff that certain deeds offered in evidence to defeat his title were inadmissible for that purpose, for the reason that the description of the property therein recited was ambiguous, and should not have been considered in establishing defendant’s title. He further claims that the deed signed by one of the trustees which purported to convey this title to defendant, May J. Robertson, was void because of a lack of proper notice of sale.

Under the pleadings it was admitted that plaintiff was the owner and in possession of the property on the eighth day of June, 1915. For the purpose of identifying the property, and establishing his case, plaintiff at the trial introduced in evidence a map of the Tamalpais Land and Water Company from which it appears that the property described in the complaint is designated thereon by the figures “18.” After the introduction of this map plaintiff testified that he had not conveyed the property, and rested his case. Thereupon the defendants, for the purpose of establishing their title, offered in evidence a deed of trust from plaintiff and his wife, as grantors, to A. W. Foster, Jr., and M. T. Freitas, given to secure a certain indebtedness. In this deed the property was described as lot (18) as delineated on the map referred to. For the purpose of explaining which lot 18 was meant by the description in the trust deed the defendants offered in evidence the deed from the Tamalpais Land and Water Company to plaintiff purporting to convey “Lot number eighteen (18) ” as laid down on the company’s map. Defendants also called the plaintiff, who testified that the parcel of land identified was the only land he owned in that vicinity. Defendants further offered in evidence a deed from M. T. Freitas, as surviving trustee under the trust deed, to defendant, May J. Robertson, being the deed under which defendants claim title, wherein the property conveyed is described in the same manner as in the conveyance from the company to plaintiff.