City of Los Angeles v. Coffey

FLEMING, J. Coffey appeals from a judgment quieting title to real property in favor of the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. Pertinent to the cause is the following chronology:

[123193]7. The property in dispute, then owned by Samuel Greenlee, was deeded to the State of California for nonpayment of city and county taxes.

1943. Title to the property was quieted in the state by entry of a judgment which enjoined Greenlee and all persons claiming under him from making claims against the property (Rev. & Tax. Code, §§ 3618-3638).

1949. Greenlee executed a quitclaim deed to the property to Coffey, and Coffey began to use the property as a parking lot.

1950. The City of Los Angeles foreclosed improvement liens against the property for unpaid special assessments dating from 1914 to 1949 and the property was deeded to the city.

1951. By tax deed the State of California conveyed the property to the County of Los Angeles.

1961. The City of Los Angeles filed the present suit to quiet title against Coffey and the County of Los Angeles.

In this proceeding Coffey claims title to the property by adverse possession commencing in 1949 and continuing for more than 10 years. (Code Civ. Proc., § 315.) The trial court rejected his claim, and so do we, for we find it invalid on at least two grounds.

1. Coffey’s claim of adverse possession was cut off in 1951 by the State of California’s conveyance to the County of Los Angeles. Two and a half years after Coffey took possession of the property the state conveyed title to the County of Los Angeles. Under the provisions of Civil Code, section 1007, title by adverse possession cannot be acquired against a city, a county, or a public corporation: . . no possession by any person ... no matter how long continued of any land . . . owned by any county, city and county, city, irrigation district, public or municipal corporation or any department or agency thereof, shall ever ripen into any title,, interest or right against such county, city and county, city, public or municipal corporation [etc.]. . .

Formerly, lands held in a proprietary capacity by the state or a municipality and not devoted to public use, were subject to loss of title by adverse possession. (People v. Banning Co., 167 Cal. 643, 647-648 [140 P. 587]; Ames v. City of San Diego, 101 Cal. 390, 394 [35 P. 1005].) But in 1935 the Civil Code was amended to prohibit the acquisition of title by adverse possession against the governmental entities listed in section 1007. (Southern Pac. Co. v. City & County of San Francisco, 62 Cal.2d 50, 53-54 [41 Cal.Rptr. 79, 396 P.2d 383];