Blanford v. Biven

254 P. 1030, 123 Kan. 269, 1927 Kan. LEXIS 119
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedApril 9, 1927
DocketNo. 27,270
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 254 P. 1030 (Blanford v. Biven) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blanford v. Biven, 254 P. 1030, 123 Kan. 269, 1927 Kan. LEXIS 119 (kan 1927).

Opinion

[270]*270The opinion of the court was delivered by

Harvey, J.:

This is a suit to enjoin defendants from tearing up a cement walk and constructing a wall at the place thereof, to reform certain deeds, and for relief incident thereto. It was tried to the court, with the jury sitting in an advisory capacity. The jury answered special questions, which were approved by the court. Judgment was rendered for plaintiffs. The defendants have appealed.

The facts giving rise to the controversy are substantially as follows: Dr. D. I. Blanford owned two 50-foot lots, Nos. 23 and 24, directly south of Walnut street, facing Holmes street, in Rosedale, now a part of Kansas City, Kan. The title to these lots was in the name of his wife, but Doctor Blanford transacted all the business in connection with the property. The two lots had a frontage of 100 feet on Holmes street. Doctor Blanford erected thereon three residence properties facing Holmes street, intending to allot to each of the properties one-third of the frontage, 33% feet. For use in connection with the north one of the houses a cement sidewalk was constructed on the south side of the house from the street to the rear of the house and premises. For the use of the middle house a similar walk was constructed on the north side of the middle house. This walk was two feet wide and extended from the street to the rear of the premises along and just a few inches from the north side of the middle residence. The two sidewalks were about three feet apart. In April, 1920, Doctor Blanford sold the north residence property to the defendants, David Biven and wife. In showing the property to them, and at the time of making the agreement for the sale, he pointed out to them that the south line of the property he was selling was the north line of the sidewalk north of the middle house. Mr. and Mrs. Biven bought this property understanding this was the south line of the property they purchased. They moved into the property and occupied and used that portion of the property north of the north line of this sidewalk. In June, 1920, Doctor Blanford sold the middle one of the three houses to R. W. Utterback and wife, and at the time of such sale pointed out to them as the north line of the property sold the north line of the sidewalk north of the center house. Utterback and wife moved into the property and used the sidewalk north of their house as a part of the property purchased. They sold and conveyed this middle residence property to the plain[271]*271tiff Buckland in March, 1921. In conveying the property to the respective purchasers Doctor Blanford and wife had the deeds read 33% feet in each case; that is to say, in conveying to the defendants David Biven and wife, the property was described as “the north 33% feet of lot 24,” and in conveying to W. R. Utterback and wife, the deed read for “the south 16% feet of lot 24 and the north 16% feet of lot 23.”

Notwithstanding the description in the conveyances, the purchasers recognized the line between their respective lots as being the north line of the sidewalk north of the center property. Some time later a survey was made of the property which disclosed the line as shown by the conveyances to be along the south line of the walk north of the center property. Thereafter David Biven and wife claimed this walk as a part of their property by reason of the deed, and were starting to tear the walk up and to build a stone wall where the walk had been. The suit is to enjoin that action and to reform the deeds to conform to the original agreement with the parties as to the division line between the properties, and other proper, equitable relief.

Much evidence was introduced. The jury found that at the time of the respective sales of the two premises it was agreed between Doctor Blanford and the respective purchasers that the line between the two properties was along the north line of the sidewalk; that the sidewalk belonged with the center property. The. court approved this finding and reformed the deeds accordingly. 1

The deed to Mr. and Mrs. Biven was reformed to show a conveyance of the north 31% feet of lot 24 instead of the north 33% feet of the lot, and the deed to Utterback was reformed to show a conveyance of the south 18% feet of lot 24 and the north 14% feet of lot 23 instead of the south 16% feet of lot 24 and the north 16% feet of lot 23. But it was clear from the evidence, and the finding of the jury, that Biven thought he was buying 33% feet front on Holmes street, and Doctor Blanford thought he was selling that quantity of ground. There was no mistake between the parties as to the location of the south line of the property sold to Biven, but there was a mistake as to the width of the portion of the lot sold. The parties thought the width was 33% feet, but subsequent surveys showed it to be only 31% feet. Because the tract sold to Mr. and Mrs. Biven was not as wide by two feet as the parties thought it was, the trial [272]*272court made it a condition of the reformation of the deeds that plaintiffs pay to the defendants Biven the value of this two-foot strip, which value the court fixed at $245. Although plaintiffs sought to enjoin defendants from taking up the sidewalk in question and building a stone wall where it had been, and a restraining order to that effect was issued, it developed at the trial that defendants had torn up the sidewalk and had built a stone wall 18 inches high where the walk had been and1 along the south line thereof. Hence, the court decreed that defendants remove the stone wall and rebuild the sidewalk they had destroyed, and in the event they did not do so, plaintiffs might have that done and pay the cost thereof out of the $245 above mentioned.

From this decree defendants have appealed. Appellants argue, first, that the evidence is insufficient to show that plaintiffs, the Bucklands, ever acquired the two feet in question. Bucklands were grantees of the Utterbacks, who purchased from the Blanfords, with a definite agreement as to the location on the ground of their north line, and that the property conveyed included the two-foot walk in question. The Bucklands, therefore, had all the rights the Utter-backs had.

To analyze this properly we should begin with the first transaction involved — the sale to David Biven and wife. When one owns a tract of land and sells a portion of it to another and the parties go upon the land and agree upon the line between the portion sold and that not sold, that becomes the line between them, although a subsequent survey or measurement of the premises may disclose that it should have been a few feet one way or the other from the line agreed upon. See McBeth v. White, 122 Kan. 637, 253 Pac. 212, where a similar question arose and was determined, and the previous authorities referred to. Here the only property David Biven and his wife bought was that portion of lot 24 north of the north line of the sidewalk in question. It is true the parties at the time thought that portion of lot 24 was 33% feet wide. In that it proved they were mistaken, and the deed purporting to convey the north 33% feet of lot 24 was by the court reformed to conform to the quantity actually sold. Since the Blanfords sold to David Bivens and wife only that portion of lot 24 north of the north line of the sidewalk in question, they continued to own the remainder of lot 24 and all of lot 23. When they sold to W. R. Utterback and wife 33% feet of lots 23 [273]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
254 P. 1030, 123 Kan. 269, 1927 Kan. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blanford-v-biven-kan-1927.