Southern California Railway Co. v. Slauson

VAN DYKE, J.

This is an action to quiet title. It is averred in the first count of the complaint that plaintiff is the owner and in possession of a certain strip of land in the county of Los Angeles, between thirty and forty feet wide and about thirteen hundred feet in length, and that defendant claims some title or interest therein which is without right; in the second count it is averred that for more than five years plaintiff and its predecessor in interest have been in the exclusive possession of a right of way over said land for the use and purpose of operating a railroad over the same, claiming to be the owner of said right of way adversely .to any right, title, etc., of defendant; and the prayer is, that plaintiff’s title to such right of way be quieted as against the defendant.

In addition to answering the complaint, the respondent filed a cross-complaint, in which he set up his ownership, and

[343]

prayed for judgment declaring him to be the owner in fee of the land in contest, and restoring him to the possession thereof. The title relied upon by appellant was based on prescription. The evidence shows that during all the times mentioned in the complaint the respondent was the owner in fee of a tract of land which included the premises in contest. It also appears that when the predecessor of appellant, the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Railway Company, contemplated building a road across the land in question, the person whom it authorized to obtain rights of way for such contemplated road had an interview with respondent, at which the latter agreed that the railroad company might go on and build the road over his land, provided that it would put a good depot on it, at which all regular passenger-trains would stop; and that when that was done he would make a deed conveying the right of way. The result of the interview was reported to the company, and soon thereafter it began to build the road over the land, and, having completed it, it ran its trains over the same. There was no written contract in the premises, but the railroad company entered upon the land by respondent’s permission, and not adversely, and it continued to operate the road after the same was built, but did not construct the depot or stop its trains as agreed. It made no demand for a deed for the right of way, nor did the respondent make a demand for the construction of the depot or the stopping of trains. The court below found and adjudged that the plaintiff had not any right or title to the land in question, and that defendant’s title to the same be quieted against the claim of the plaintiff, and that he recover from plaintiff the possession of said land and premises in question, and that a writ of possession in his favor be issued, directing the sheriff to place said defendant in possession of the said premises.