Richard v. Mead

FOURT, J. This is an appeal from a judgment entered in favor of the defendants and cross-complainants Loyd' and Maren Mead against plaintiffs and cross-defendants in the sum of $431.73 and costs.

[867]The action was instituted after a dispute arose with respect to the boundaries of two adjacent lots of Tract 15282 in the county of Los Angeles, one of which is owned by plaintiffs and the other by defendants Loyd and Maren Mead.

Lot 9 of said tract was purchased by plaintiffs in 1949. The Meads purchased the adjoining Lot 8 in 1953, and shortly thereafter caused a survey to be made of their property at which time it was discovered that the plaintiffs were encroaching on a triangular shaped portion of Lot 8. The triangular shaped parcel might be described substantially as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of Lot 9, which said point is also the southwest corner of Lot 8, thence northerly 110 feet along the boundary line between Lots 8 and 9, thence easterly 32 feet along the northerly boundary line of Lot 8, thence southwesterly about 110 feet to a point on the south line of Lot 8, about 3 feet east of the point of beginning, thence along the southerly boundary of Lot 8 to the point of beginning.

Following their purchase of Lot 9 in 1949, plaintiffs erected on the triangular shaped portion of Lot 8 a fence and placed certain improvements thereon consisting, among other things, of shrubs, a sprinkling system, a brick border and lawn. Plaintiffs remained in undisputed and undisturbed possession of the area in question from 1949 to 1953. Other persons, not parties to this appeal, owned Lot 8 at the time such improvements were placed thereon. Plaintiffs claimed ownership of the triangular shaped parcel in question as a part of Lot 9.

On July 28, 1953, the Meads wrote plaintiffs, informing them that they were encroaching on their property and notifying them to remove the encroachments within thirty days and that they would be charged rent if they failed to do so.

Plaintiffs thereafter filed this action in which the Meads filed a cross-complaint for declaratory relief, trespass, ejectment, quiet title and for damages. Subsequently a request for entry of a partial dismissal and stipulation prepared by the attorneys for the plaintiffs was filed and entered. By the stipulation the plaintiffs dismissed with prejudice their complaint against the defendants Loyd and Maren Mead, and acknowledged the true boundary line between the lots as indicated on a survey made on behalf of the Meads; it further provided that within 10 days from the date of the stipulation, plaintiffs would remove the fence posts, the