Austin v. Crowell

159 N.W. 504, 193 Mich. 296, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 586
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 27, 1916
DocketDocket No. 55
StatusPublished

This text of 159 N.W. 504 (Austin v. Crowell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Austin v. Crowell, 159 N.W. 504, 193 Mich. 296, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 586 (Mich. 1916).

Opinion

Moore, J.

This is ejectment brought by the plaintiff to recover possession of a strip of land eight feet in width on a city lot located near the northeast corner of Grant street and Asylum avenue (new Oakland drive), in the city of Kalamazoo. Grant street runs east and west. Oakland drive runs nearly north and south. The defendant owned three tenement houses facing on Oakland drive. She did not live in any of them. They were occupied by tenants.

In 1890 the land on Grant street was surveyed by Mr. Balch, and a plat made showing six lots fronting on Grant street. The parties to this suit trace title to the person who had this survey made. When he sold the land, instead of selling it as lots shown by the plat, his deeds described the lands by metes and bounds, and the record seems to indicate that he conveyed two feet of land fronting on Grant street more than there was. The plaintiff owned one of the lots fronting on Grant street. The defendant at the time this suit was brought was the owner of the northerly portion of the lot which was bounded on the west by Asylum avenue (now Oakland drive) and on the south by Grant street. Her lots fronted on Oakland drive and ran back so that the rear of them abutted against the west side lines of the rear portion of the plaintiff’s lot.

In 1904, shortly after plaintiff obtained title to her lot, she caused a survey to be made of the lots conveyed by the common grantor. This survey showed that the lines were not where, up to that time, it was supposed they were located. The record indicates that all the parties affected by the survey except the defendant accepted it. It is the claim of plaintiff that until shortly before this suit was brought no one [298]*298disputed the accuracy of the survey. Two surveys by other surveyors were subsequently made which agreed substantially with the survey of 1904.

July 4, 1911, plaintiff built a fence on the line between the rear of her lot and the rear of the lots of the defendant as shown by the survey of 1904, which line she claims is the true line. July 12, 1911, the defendant, assisted by her daughter removed this fence, claiming it had been placed on her land. The land involved is eight feet one way and about eighty feet the other way. This suit in ejectment was brought August 22, 1911. On September 7, 1911, the defendant pleaded the general issue. The case was tried before a jury. From a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiff the case is brought here by writ of error. Reversal of this judgment is sought for four reasons:

(1) The actual occupants of the premises described in the plaintiff’s declaration were not made parties defendant.

(2) Because the boundary lines included within the lines occupied by the defendant and her tenants were boundary lines established by long practical acquiescence of plaintiff’s predecessors in title.

(3) Because the defendant and her tenants had occupied the property without dispute from 1890 to 1911, and had acquired title thereto by adverse possession.

(4) The court’s charge. *

We will consider these reasons in the above order.

1. The defendant had three houses on her lots, each of which was occupied by a tenant each of whom used the yard back of the house. Immediately and for some years previous to the erection of the fence by the plaintiff there was no fence between. Counsel for defendant insist that each of the tenants should have been made a party defendant, citing sections 13150, 13159, 5 How. Stat. (2d Ed.), 3 Comp. Laws 1915, [299]*299§§ 13171, 13180, and Lockwood v. Drake, 1 Mich. 14; Crane v. Seitz, 30 Mich. 453; Hoyt v. Southard, 58 Mich. 432 (25 N. W. 385); Haddy v. Tobias, 85 Mich. 326 (48 N. W. 499); Farrand v. Kavanaugh, 132 Mich. 436 (93 N. W. 1083). A reference to this statute and the cases cited will show they are not controlling. In the instant case the defendant pleaded the general issue. She testified that no one but herself had an interest in the disputed strip. None of the tenants were claiming any interest except what came to them as tenants of defendant. No one-of them is complaining that he or she was not made a party. This ejectment proceeding does not affect the occupants of defendant’s houses or of the yard that properly goes with them.

In Bunce v. Bidwell, 43 Mich. 542 (5 N. W. 1023), Justice Cooley speaking for the court, it was held the wife was not a necessary party- where the land in dispute was a strip of land adjoining the 40 acres where they lived. In Hendricks v. Rasson, 49 Mich. 83 (13 N. W. 367), it was held the defendant in ejectment cannot for the purpose of defeating the action rely upon the nonjoinder as defendant of any person occupying the premises with him under a claim of right that is subordinate to and inseparable from his own possession. See, also, Arnold v. Brechtel, 174 Mich. 147 (140 N. W. 610). Upon this record the case should not fail because the tenants were not made defendants.

2. We now come to the question of the boundary lines which it is claimed were established by acquiescence. The judge gave the following request:

“In an' ejectment suit the plaintiff must rely upon the sufficiency of her own title, and cannot question defendant’s title before making a prima facie case of actionable right in herself, and the plaintiff must recover on the strength of her own title where the de[300]*300fendant is in possession, and in applying this law you are to consider and determine from the evidence in the case whether or not the plaintiff has established her right to recover, and to that end you should consider not only the evidence offered by the plaintiff, but the evidence offered by the defendant as well. If you should find that the only question in dispute was where the west line of the Brown land was located, then you should determine from all the evidence in the case where that line actually is, and if you find as contended for by defendant, then your verdict should be in favor of the defendant, no cause of action.”

In his general charge he stated:

“If you should find that this land had been surveyed by Balch and Mershon in 1890, and that thereafter Mershon had sold for the E. B. Crowell lots along Grant street and pointed out to the purchasers' the location of the premises, and the purchasers went into possession thereof upon the agreed and established boundaries as pointed out by Mershon, and they and their grantees so continued to occupy said lots up to the time that the plaintiff acquired title to her property on Austin street, and that she caused a new survey to be made according to the descriptions contained in the deeds, and induced people owning lands upon Grant street to change their old lines of occupation as established by them and Mr. Mershon, I charge you that in law it was not possible for the plaintiff to make the lot owners on Grant street or this defendant give up the established and agreed marks and accept another, even though you should find that the several surveys made under the direction of Mrs. Austin were in exact accord with the descriptions contained in the deeds of the respective owners, because the law wisely says that, where a line is established by consent, it shall not again be changed except by consent, and the fact that the lot owners on Grant street may have consented to change their lines to meet the terms of Mrs.

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Related

Lockwood v. Drake
1 Mich. 14 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1847)
Crane v. Seitz
30 Mich. 453 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1874)
Bunce v. Bidwell
5 N.W. 1023 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1880)
Hendricks v. Rasson
13 N.W. 367 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1882)
Hoyt v. Southard
25 N.W. 385 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1885)
Haddy v. Tobias
48 N.W. 499 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1891)
Farrand v. Kavanaugh
93 N.W. 1083 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1903)
Arnold v. Brechtel
140 N.W. 610 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1913)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 N.W. 504, 193 Mich. 296, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/austin-v-crowell-mich-1916.