Flint v. Hecker

BARNARD, P. J. This is an action to set aside the judgment entered in two prior actions which were consolidated for trial. In these former actions, which were filed on April 1, 1953, these plaintiffs sought to establish a constructive trust as against the defendant, and each of them sought to quiet his title to a one-fourth interest in 80 acres of land. The defendant Hecker answered and sought to have title quieted in him. At the trial, it was conceded that the three one-fourth interests which Hecker had acquired by a tax [763]deed in 1944 did not include the one-fourth interest which was held in the Anna Hecker trust, in which Hecker was the trustee. The court there found that the interests claimed by the plaintiffs were conveyed to Hecker by a tax deed dated October 31, 1944, which was recorded on July 26, 1946; that there was no constructive trust; that Hecker had been in adverse possession for more than five years; that the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the statutes of limitation; and that neither of the plaintiffs had any interest in the property in question. Judgment was entered quieting title in the defendant Hecker, which was affirmed on appeal. (Metcalf v. Hecker, 127 Cal.App.2d 634 [274 P.2d 188].) The general factual background is set forth in that opinion.

This action was brought on May 9, 1955, seeking to set aside that judgment on the ground of extrinsic mistake and fraud. This is based on the claim that in the former action these plaintiffs mistakenly believed that the three one-fourth interests which Hecker had purchased at the tax sale in 1944 did not include a one-fourth interest which was in the Anna Hecker trust, and that they had subsequently discovered that the trust’s one-fourth interest was one of those purchased by Hecker at said tax sale and that his tax deed did not convey to him the one-fourth interest which had been owned by John Metcalf.

The complaint in this action alleges that at the tax sale on October 31, 1944, Hecker purchased the interests of Marie Lamb, Albert Metcalf, and the Anna Hecker trust while he was acting as trustee of said trust estate; that Hecker thereafter represented to John Metcalf, the former husband of the plaintiff May Metcalf and the predecessor in interest of the plaintiff Flint, that he had purchased the John Metcalf interest at said tax sale; that Marie Lamb conveyed her one-fourth interest to May Metcalf on April 24, 1945; that John Metcalf deeded his one-fourth interest to Flint on October 6, 1951; that John Metcalf and May Metcalf filed a partition action in September, 1947, asking that the respective rights of the parties be adjudged and decreed; that Hecker filed an answer in that action alleging that he owned a three-fourths interest in the property, but that this did not conflict with the ownership of the one-fourth interest under the Anna Hecker trust; that Hecker knew at all times that he had not purchased the interest of John Metcalf but that he had purchased the interest of the Anna Hecker trust; that he concealed from Flint and Marie Lamb the fact that he had