Raynor v. Mintzer

Belcher, C. C. This is an appeal by the plaintiff from a judgment rendered against him on demurrer to his complaint.

The action was brought to recover damages which the plaintiff claimed to have suffered on account of the wrongful and fraudulent acts of the defendants in attempting to deprive him of certain valuable real property which he owned in the county of San Bernardino.

It is alleged that the defendants, in 1875, agreed and conspired together to cheat and defraud plaintiff out of his property, and that all their subsequent acts were in pursuance of that conspiracy; that they thereby caused him to suffer great loss and damage, and forced him to resort to expensive and vexatious litigation to protect his rights.

The complaint covers thirty-five pages, without the exhibits, of the printed transcript, and tells at great length the story of the wrongs suffered by plaintiff, and of the litigation consequent thereupon.

The facts may be briefly stated as follows: In 1875 the plaintiff was the owner of an undivided four-sevenths interest in certain real property, and the defendants were the owners of the other three sevenths. The defendants fraudulently acquired from the plaintiff his interest, and, after acquiring it, organized themselves into a corporation, by the name of the Colton Land and Water Company, of which they were the only members and stockholders. They then transferred the'whole property to the corporation, and divided the stock among themselves according to their respective interests in the [587]property. Thereafter, on June 7, 1887, they caused the corporation to commence an action against the plaintiff to quiet its title to the property, and to enjoin him from asserting that he owned any interest therein. The plaintiff answered, and by way of cross-complaint set up that he owned four sevenths of the property, and prayed for affirmative relief. The case was tried, and on October 27,1879, it was adjudged and determined that the plaintiff owned the interest claimed by him, and that the corporation and other parties to the suit reconvey the same to him. A motion for new trial was then made and denied, and an appeal from the judgment and order was taken to this court. This appeal was heard, and the judgment was slightly modified and affirmed in January 1881. (Colton L. & W. Co. v. Raynor, 57 Cal. 588.)

While that appeal was pending, the defendants, in pursuance of their fraudulent scheme do get the plaintiff’s property, and in order to evade the judgment, if a decision should be in his favor, sought out various creditors of the plaintiff, and, among others, one Clyde, and incited and urged them to bring suits and obtain judgments on their claims, and to have the plaintiff’s interest in the property levied on and sold. To induce the creditors to do this, and to proceed at once and buy in the property before the determination of the appeal, the defendants promised the creditors to take from them whatever title they might acquire, and to pay them therefor the full amount of their respective claims, with al'1 costs incurred, themselves taking the chances as to the title being good. In pursuance of this arrangement, Clyde commenced an action upon his claim for nearly eighteen hundred dollars, and obtained a judgment by default. He then had an execution issued and levied on the plaintiff’s interest in the property, and at the sale bought the property in his own name. He obtained a certificate of sale, and on December 7, 1880, transferred the same, and all his interest in the lands described