Leonard v. Osburn

The court is satisfied with the discussion of the case in the opinion of the district court of appeal of the first district, and for the reasons stated in that opinion, it is ordered that the judgment be reversed. We cite the additional case of Hall v.Bartlett, 158 Cal. 641, [112 P. 176], which is very closely in point.

The following is the opinion of the District Court of Appeal of the first appellate district, above referred to and approved, rendered on September 24, 1914.

This is an action to quiet title. Plaintiff recovered judgment as prayed for, from which defendant appeals.

The common source of title was in F.S. Lawrence and E.W. Darling. Plaintiff claims by mesne conveyances through a deed dated December 16, 1892, from the common grantors to Mrs. Linda M. Adams. This deed was filed for record in the office of the county recorder of Santa Cruz County on May 23, 1893. By its terms it conveyed a lot of land lying in Twin Lake Park, in Santa Cruz County, described as lot 10 . . . block 2, subdivision No. 6, as the same is shown on the map of Twin Lake Park made by E.D. Perry, surveyor, filed August 22, 1891, in the office of the recorder of Santa Cruz County.

Defendant's claim is based on mesne conveyances through a deed dated August 4, 1892, from the common grantors to Mrs. Celia Higgins. The deed was filed for record August 27, 1892 — some four months prior to the date of the deed to Linda M. Adams, under which plaintiff claims — and, according to its *Page 159 terms, conveyed a lot lying in Twin Lake Park in Santa Cruz County, described as lot 10, block 2 . . . subdivision No. 6, as the same is shown on the map of Twin Lake Park made by N.E. Beckwith, surveyor, and filed May 29, 1890, in the office of the recorder of Santa Cruz County.

It thus appears that the deed through which defendant claims was executed and recorded prior to the one under which the plaintiff claims; and it also appears from the evidence that the reference to the map in the earlier deed was erroneous, the map intended to be referred to being the one made by Perry and correctly described in the deed to plaintiff's predecessor. The questions for decisions are 1 Is the description in the earlier deed so vague or inaccurate as to be void for uncertainty? and 2 Is such description, in a deed duly recorded, sufficient to charge subsequent purchasers with notice that lot 10 of block 2 in subdivision 6, according to a map made by E.D. Perry, had been conveyed?