Taft v. Washington

CONREY, P.J.

The plaintiffs are the owners of the south half of a lot which has a frontage of sixty feet and six inches on the west side of Spring Street, in the city of Los Angeles. The defendant is the owner of the north half of the lot for the term of her natural life, with remainder over to the plain

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tiffs. The entire frontage is covered by a two-story building which was erected in the year 1885 by Biddy Mason, predecessor in title of the parties to this action. The lower story of the building is divided into three storerooms. The upper story contains a number of rooms, to which access is obtained by a stairway located on the north side of the building. Plaintiffs alleged and the court has found that at the commencement of this action the defendant had under construction a wooden partition extending from front to rear of the middle storeroom through and near the center thereof and located partly on the south side of the true center line of the lot; also that the defendant threatened to tear up and disconnect certain sewer-pipes and drain-pipes which are located upon the north half of the premises and to destroy plaintiffs’ access to the upper portion of the south half of the building by closing up the

stairway;

all of which was without the consent and was against the will of the plaintiffs. The judgment ordered the defendant to remove the said partition wall from plaintiffs’ premises, that is to say, from the south half of the lot, and enjoined the defendant from tearing down or removing said pipes and drains or interfering with said stairway or committing any waste to the inheritance of the plaintiffs. Prom this judgment, and from an order denying her motion for a new trial, the defendant appeals.

Appellant now insists that in sundry specified particulars the evidence is insufficient to justify the findings of fact. None of these objections can be sustained. Defendant’s answer did not deny that the partition was completed after the filing of the complaint herein. She merely alleged that it was already completed before any injunction issued herein was served upon her. The evidence is sufficient to establish the fact that a portion of the partition was, as found by the court, located upon the plaintiffs’ side of the dividing line. The testimony of the surveyor, LeEoy I. Weeks, shows that the distance from the exterior line of the north wall of the building to the center of the south wall thereof is coincident with the width of the lot as claimed by both parties. The record shows that before erecting her building Mrs. Mason made a party-wall agreement with the owner of the lot adjoining her lot on the south which permitted her to erect a sixteen-inch wall, of which one-half would be on said adjoining lot. The fact that she did erect the building in accord