Andreson Co. v. Regenold

Action to Quiet Title—New Parties Brought in by Cross-complaint.—In an action to quiet title, wherein the defense is made that the plaintiffs’ grantor held the property in trust for the defendants, the court properly strikes out paragraphs of a cross-complaint by which it is sought to bring in the plaintiffs’ grantor as a party and to compel him to account for the proceeds of sales to persons other than the plaintiffs of parcels of land included within the tract described in the patent, but different from the property directly in controversy.

Id.—Pre-emption Claim—Issuance of Patent to Heir Instead of to Devisee—Limitation of Actions.—Where a testator devises his interest in an incomplete pre-emption claim to his executor, and the executor, on completing the claim after the death of the testator and ignorantly supposing that he as devisee is heir, has the patent issued to the heirs of the testator, records it in the office of the county recorder and in the land-office, takes and holds possession of the property, and several years later discloses the facts to the sole heir, a nonresident, acting at all times in good faith, the statute of limitations commences to run against the heir from the time of receiving such information, and he is then put on inquiry as to the state of the title, and cannot, thirty years afterward, invoke the law to establish his rights.

Id.—Laches—Law Refuses Aid to Persons Who Sleep on Rights.— The law does not aid those who thus sleep upon their rights only to assert them when the thrift and enterprise of others have made property, once theirs, valuable and worth coveting.