Stanley v. Shierry

BRAZIL, J. pro tem.* The plaintiff appeals from a judgment which denied a decree requiring defendants to remove a portion of a building from land she claimed to own, from a refusal to quiet her title to the disputed area, and from a decree which quieted defendants’ title to the selfsame property.

Lots 14 and 29 in Block 6, Map Number 1, Lafayette Home-sites, have a common boundary line roughly half way between Golden Gate Way on the north and Moraga Boulevard on the south. Each lot is 50 feet wide and between 130 and 140 feet long, Lot 14 being a few feet longer than Lot 29.

Both lots were owned by the Moraga Land Company before 1927, and each side traces its claim of right to the disputed portion of Lot 14 from this common source. The deed from the land company to Margaret Thompson, the defendants’ predecessor in interest, to a portion of that lot is first in time being dated July 27,1926, and the deed from the same grantor to Annie Eagles, plaintiff’s predecessor in interest, to Lot 29 and a portion of Lot 14 follows on April 21, 1927. The disputed portion covers a substantial area approximately in the middle of Lot 14. The confusion is brought about by the difference in the language used in the two deeds in conveying separate parts of the lot.

In 1955 the respondents (defendants) constructed a building on Lot 14, the rear of which building is 65 feet from Golden Gate Way, the lot’s northern boundary. Appellant (plaintiff) claims an encroachment of 49.02 feet at the east boundary and 19.15 feet at the west boundary, covering an area of about 1,500 square feet. She sought removal of the building and a decree of quiet title. The respondents asked and got a decree quieting their title to the land in dispute.

For the sake of clarity, before going any further, the exact [375]wording of the granting clauses of the deeds by which the predecessors in interest of the respective parties acquired title from the Moraga Land Company is set forth.

The 1926 deed to Mrs. Thompson conveys “That portion of Lots 14 ... in Block 6, as said lots are delineated and so designated on that certain map [Map No. 1 Lafayette Home-sites, etc.] which have the boulevard as the North Boundary line and the center of the creek as the South Boundary line. Subject to an easement for public travel over the roads shown on map above referred to excepting ... as said lots are delineated on map above referred to, which strip of land shown on said map and thereon designated as Alpha Lane has been closed.”