Craig v. Wheeler

RICHARDS, J.

This action as originally commenced by the plaintiff was one to quiet title to a lot situate in the city of Los Angeles, of which he alleged himself to be the owner and in possession, and further alleged that the defendants claimed some right, title and interest in said premises which were without right or value; wherefore the plaintiff prayed judgment quieting his title as to the defendants. The defendant Helen Reehl Wheeler, by her answer to said complaint, denied that the plaintiff was or

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ever had been the owner of said lot or any portion thereof or that he was ever in possession thereof or any part thereof. The said defendant further set forth that she was the owner of said premises by virtue of the fact that one Frances May Craig, a former owner thereof, had made and executed to said defendant a mortgage upon the property in due form to secure a loan of four thousand dollars, which mortgage had been foreclosed by said defendant by decree of foreclosure duly given and made in said action; that said premises had been sold under and by virtue of said decree and that said defendant had become the purchaser thereof at the foreclosure sale, and that in due course a sheriff’s deed to the premises had been duly and regularly executed to her, by virtue of which deed she had become the owner in fee of the same. The defendant Wheeler also filed a cross-complaint against her co-defendant, Mabel King Fallís, alleging that the latter was claiming some right, title and interest in the premises, which claim was without merit, and prayed for a judgment quieting her title against her said co-defendant. The defendant Mabel King Fallís failed to answer the complaint of the plaintiff or the cross-complaint of her co-defendant and her default was duly entered. Thereafter plaintiff filed an amended complaint, wherein he set forth that he was the owner in fee of said premises by virtue of the fact that he was the husband of said Frances May Craig and that said property, while standing in the name of Frances May Craig, was at all times the community property of himself and said Frances May Craig, and that the same was such at the time that Frances May Craig borrowed from the defendant Helen Beehl Wheeler the sum of four thousand dollars and gave the mortgage above referred to upon the premises for the security thereof; that the money was borrowed and the mortgage given without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff, but that as to the mortgagee she was aware at the time of taking the same that the plaintiff and Frances May Craig were husband and wife and that the latter had no authority to make or execute said mortgage. The plaintiff further set forth at length the facts relating to the foreclosure of the mortgage, and stating