Page v. Vaughn

GRAY, C.

This is an appeal from an order dissolving an injunction.

The plaintiff alleged in his verified complaint that he and the defendant M. L. Vaughn were each owners of an undivided one-half interest in a certain mining claim situated in Kern County; that investigation had demonstrated that the ores in

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said mine could not be extracted, shipped, and treated in any mill available for that purpose without great waste and loss, and for that reason, on a certain day, plaintiff notified defendants that he would not then engage in working said mine, nor become a partner with them for that purpose, and at the same time objected to the removal of the ores in which he had an interest; that, thereafter, defendants, intending and conspiring to cheat and defraud plaintiff, and to deprive and exclude him from his said property, and intending to convert the same, and the whole thereof, to their own use, entered upon said property with a large force of men, and took'exclusive possession of all parts thereof, where work could be done or in which ' there is ore of any present value, and have ever since held such possession, to the entire exclusion of plaintiff; that defendants, while so in possession, have committed, and are still committing, great waste and irreparable injury and damage to plaintiff’s interest in said property, by carrying away some of the ore, mixing it with worthless waste matter, throwing some of it over a steep incline, and covering it with a large mass of

debris,

where it cannot be recovered; that defendants have taken out large quantities of high-grade ore, without regard to the method or safety of the shaft, and have done their work in a very unminer-like manner; that they have left the shaft untimbered and in a dangerous condition, and have committed numerous other acts specifically set out in the complaint, all of which, as is alleged, will tend to great waste and destruction of the property, and for all of which plaintiff has no adequate redress or remedy at law. Plaintiff further alleges that he has demanded possession of his interest in the said property, and defendants have refused, and still refuse, to permit him to enter into possession of said interest; that defendants and their employees still hold possession of said property, and are working the same as aforesaid, to the exclusion of plaintiff, and threaten to continue said work, and to commit further waste and irreparable injury to the said property. Plaintiff demands judgment for the possession of his interest in said property, for damages, and that during the pendency of the action the defendants be restrained by order of the court from interfering in any way with plaintiff’s interest in said property, and from taking from said property or treating any of the ores thereof, and from disposing of any of the proceeds derived therefrom.