Bent v. Barnes

78 S.E. 374, 72 W. Va. 161, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 25
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 11, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 78 S.E. 374 (Bent v. Barnes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bent v. Barnes, 78 S.E. 374, 72 W. Va. 161, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 25 (W. Va. 1913).

Opinion

Williams, Judge:

James A. Bent was the owner of two tracts of land, rectangular in form, which touched at their respective northwest and southwest angles. P. Clarence Barnes was the owner of an adjoining tract, which terminated in a sharp triangle having its apex at the corner common to the two Bent tracts. One of Bent’s tracts bordered on a public highway called the Seneca Boad, and the other was separated from it, and also from the road, by the above described triangle, across which a way was necessary for Bent to reach one of his tracts from the Seneca Boad. In view of this situation, Bent procured from Barnes the following writing, viz.:

[163]*163“It is agreed by and between P. Clarence Barnes, of Allegheny County, Maryland, and James A. Bent, of Elkins, West Virginia, that in consideration of the said James A. Bent making a good substantial public road between his land and the Seneca road, through the lands of the said P. Clarence Barnes near the stream, that the said P. Clarence Barnes hereby agrees to convey to the said Bent the triangular piece of land lying on the west end of his land, seven rods long and five rods wide where it adjoins said road to be constructed; the same containing about seventeen square rods. The said James A. Bent agreeing that the said road shall be constructed within one month from the date hereof, and that it shall at all times open to the said P. Clarence Barnes and the public generally.

Witness our hands and seals this 26th day of March, 1903.

P. CLARENCE BARNES [SEAL]

James A. Bent [seal]”

Within the time specified, Bent constructed a road across the triangle, but located it at a much greater distance from the apex of the triangle than seven rods. The triangle cut off by the road contained sixty, or more, square rods, instead of seventeen as in the contract stipulated. Barnes never saw the land after the road was made. The contract was executed at Cumberland, Maryland, the place of Barnes’ residence. On June 22, 1903, Barnes and his wife conveyed his tract of land to the defendant, Vincenzo Trimboli, describing it by metes and bounds, but made the following exception, viz.: “Save and excepting therefrom a narrow strip triangle in form on the western end of said land which by agreement between James A. Bent and the grantors hereof executed in March, 1903, was granted for a public road to be at all times open to the proprietor of this land and the public generally.” It appears that Trimboli knew where the road was, at the time he bought; but the contract between Bent and Barnes had never been recorded, and he had not seen it before he bought and paid for the land. Later, however, he seems to have been advised that the Bent road cut off more of the apex of the triangle of his land than the agreement authorized; and he then asserted claim to all of the triangle except the part described in the written agreement, and closed up the road. Bent then brought a suit to enjoin Trimboli from inter[164]*164fering with the road and to compel him to remove the obstructions which he had placed in it. A temporary injunction was awarded, but later dissolved by the circuit court of Randolph county, and his bill dismissed. Bent then appealed, and obtained a reversal of that decree, and a decree by this Court perpetually enjoining Trimboli from interfering in any manner with his use of the road, and requiring Trimboli to remove all obstructions which he had placed in it. 61 W. Va. 509. Barnes was not a party to that suit. Notwithstanding the result of that suit, Trimboli, still claiming the greater part of the triangle cut off by the road, continued to make use of so much of it as lay between the road and a line parallel to it, seven rods from the apex of the triangle; and Bent brought the present suit to compel Trimboli to remove structures and material from the land, which he had placed upon it, and to enjoin him from prosecuting a threatened action of ejectment against plaintiff, and from committing other threatened and petty acts of alleged trespass. The bill alleges that plaintiff was in possession of the land and that Trimboli, “violently and wrongfully, and secretly in the night time, attempted to take and did take, possession of said land, and then 'and there tore down the plaintiff’s said fence, bars and gates, on said land”; and further alleges that Trimboli is threatening to institute an action of ejectment against plaintiff, and is now building houses and shanties on the land. Barnes is made a party, and the bill prays that he be compelled to convey to plaintiff all of the triangular piece of land west of the road. Trimboli and Barnes both answered and general reifications thereto were made, and depositions were taken and filed by Bent and Trimboli. The bill also exhibits the record in the former suit. The cause was finally heard on the 26th of February, 1910, and a final decree made, whereby Barnes was required to execute to Bent a deed for seventeen square rods at the apex of the triangle, describing it; dissolving the preliminary injunction restraining Trimboli from trespassing upon the land, which had been granted in the mean time; and dismissing the bill, so far as it sought relief against Trimboli. Bent has appealed from that decree.

It is urged that the demurrer to the bill should have been sustained. The court did not directly pass upon it, but it was,. [165]*165in effect, overruled by the final decree. Dimmack v. Wheeling Traction Co., 58 W. Va. 226; McGraw v. Bank, 64 W. Va. 509. The bill is good on demurrer. Bent’s only relief was in equity. ■He claimed the land by virtue of his agreement with Barnes, which gave him only an equity in the land; and he could neither successfully prosecute or defend an action of ejectment on his equitable claim. His suit was to get in the legal title from Barnes, and Trimboli was a necessary party, because he claimed the same land by deed from Barnes, and was alleged to be in possession of it. Having jurisdiction of the cause and the parties, equity could administer full and complete relief. It could prevent, by injunction, the commission of such acts of trespass upon the land for which the law does not afford an adequate remedy. And while it is true, as a general rule, that equity will not enjoin a mere naked trespass to realty, yet if the acts are repeated and continuous and are §o trifling in character that the damages recoverable at law for each act would be small when compared with the expense of prosecuting separate actions therefor, equity will grant relief by injunction, owing to the inadequacy of the legal remedy. 1 High on Injunction (4th ed.) secs. 697 and 702a; Miller v. Wills, 95 Va. 337; Callaway v. Webster, 98 Va. 790; Lembeck v. Nye, 47 Ohio St. 336; Edwards v. Haeger, 180 Ill. 99; Mills v. New Orleans S. Co. (Miss.), 7 Am. St. Rep. 671; New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. Scovill, 71 Conn. 136, 42 L. R. A. 157; Boston & Maine R. R. v. Sullivan, 177 Mass. 230, 58 N. E. 689; Pholman v. Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, 60 Neb. 364; and McClellan v. Taylor, 54 S. C. 430.

The principal question is, is Bent entitled to.

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Related

Wiles v. Wiles
58 S.E.2d 601 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1950)

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Bluebook (online)
78 S.E. 374, 72 W. Va. 161, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bent-v-barnes-wva-1913.