Collins v. Bailey

22 Colo. App. 149
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 8, 1912
DocketNo. 3502
StatusPublished

This text of 22 Colo. App. 149 (Collins v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Bailey, 22 Colo. App. 149 (Colo. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Scott, P. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

[150]*150On the 25th day of January, 1907, the plaintiff in this case filed his amended complaint in the district court of Eagle county alleging, substantially, that on the 1st day of September, 1906, he was and ever since and hitherto has been the owner in fee simple of the Australian, the Shamrock and the Iiecla lode mining claims situated in the Holy Cross mining district in Eagle county; that he claims the right to occupy and possess said premises, and is entitled to tlie possession thereof, by a full compliance with the local laws and rules of said mining district, the laws of the state of Colorado, and by patents from the United States; and further, that the defendant, The French Mountain Mining Company, and the defendants, John W. Bailey, W. B. Brown and Edward Brown, on or about the first day of November, 1906, wrongfully entered into said claims' and have ever since unlawfully held possession of the same, and have been extracting therefrom, as plaintiff is informed and believes, ores of the value of one hundred thousand dollars. The prayer was for recovery of possession of the several lode mining claims, for damages and for costs of suit. To this complaint there were filed the separate answers of the defendants, but all of these were similar and alleged, in substance, that as to whether or not the plaintiff was the owner of the claims mentioned in the complaint, defendants had not and could not obtain sufficient knowledge or information upon .which to base a belief, and deny that on November 1st, 1906, or at any other time, the defendants or any of them, wrongfully or otherwise entered upon the said claims, or any of them, or at said date or since, or at any time, have wrongfully [151]*151held possession thereof, and deny that said defendants, or any of them, have extracted ore therefrom of the value of any sum whatsoever.

Upon this complaint and these separate answers the case was tried to a jury which returned, a verdict in favor of the defendants in the following words: “We, the jury, find the issues herein joined for the defendants, and that the defendants, W. B. Brown and Edward Brown, are the owners, and the defendant, The French Mountain Mining Company, is the lessee, and entitled to the possession of the vein or lode opened and developed in the Hecla and Shamrock lode claims by what is known as the lower tunnel. ’ ’

Pending a hearing on a motion for a new trial the court permitted the defendants, over the objection of plaintiff, to file a joint amended answer in which it was alleged, among other things, that the defendants further answering said complaint, and by way of counterclaim, allege that at all times mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint the defendants, W. B. Brown and Edward Brown, were, and still are, the owners in fee simple of the Grand Trunk lode mining claim, situate in the Holy Cross mining district, state of Colorado; that on or about the...... day of August, 1904, they gave or extended a lease of, or bond upon said claim to the defendant, John W. Bailey, who thereafter and in May, 1906, assigned said lease and bond to the defendant, The French Mountain Mining Company, which, ever since said time, has been in the actual possession and occupancy of said lode and vein; and that said Grand Trunk lode lies parallel and adjacent to the Australian lode claim, and that the said- Australian, [152]*152Hecla and Shamrock claims lie parallel to each otherj in one body, with end lines practically upon one line; that the said defendant, The French Mountain Mining Company, cut and intersected at a point within the exterior sidelines of the said Australian, Shamrock and Hecla group, the Grand Trunk lode, and the vein thereof; that said vein so drifted upon by said company is the vein in controversy in this action, and is the only vein from which the defendants have extracted or taken out any ore in said tunnel. Defendants further allege that said vein is the Grand Trunk vein and has been disclosed and discovered along, upon and in the said Grand Trunk lode, and that said vein throughout its entire depth is the property of the defendants, as owners or lessees of the Grand Trunk vein, and as being a vein apexing upon and within the said Grand Trunk lode. It was further alleged that the plaintiff has no right, title or interest whatever in or to said lode, and that although the vein was cut at a point within the side lines of the Australian, Shamrock and Hecla group extended downwards vertically, the said vein was so cut, because in its dip it crossed the vertical side lines of the Australian lode, and that said vein in its dip extended into the ground beneath the surface of the said Australian and Shamrock claims, but continues at all times to the Grand Trunk vein apexing upon the Grand Trunk lode, and belonging thereto, and that said vein where the. same is cut and developed in said tunnel is the identical vein located, opened up and developed on the surface of the Grand Trunk lode mining claim. Further, defendants disclaimed any right or title to said Australian, Shamrock and Hecla claims [153]*153except tlieir right and title to- the Grand Trunk vein so far as the, same may lie beneath the surface boundaries of said Australian, Shamrock and Hecla claims, between vertical planes drawn downward through the end lines of said Grand Trunk lode, so continued in their own direction' that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such' vein or lode, and their right to remove ore and other material from their said Grand Trunk lode. The defendants prayed that the defendants, W. B. Brown and Edward Brown, be adjudged to be the owners, and the defendant, The French Mountain Mining Company, be adjudged to be the lessee and entitled to the possession of the alleged Grand Trunk lode or vein, cut within the side lines of plaintiff’s lode, claims.

After this answer was permitted to be filed, the court over-ruled plaintiff’s motion for a new trial and rendered judgment in substance, that the defendants are entitled to the possession of the vein or dode in dispute in this action, opened up and disclosed within the side lines of the Hecla and Shamrock claims as a vein or lode apexing within the lines of the Grand Trunk lode and a part thereof, the defendants, W. B. Brown and Edward Brown, being so entitled as the owners thereof, and that plaintiff has no right, title or interest therein whatever. It was further adjudged, that said vein is in fact the Grand Trunk vein, belonging to and having its apex upon the Grand Trunk lode, and that. the title, rights and interests of the defendants are hereby quieted and confirmed as against the said .plaintiff, and all persons claiming under- him, and that said plaintiff, his agents, servants and attor[154]*154neys are hereby enjoined and restrained from asserting or claiming any right, title or interest in said vein, or in any ore taken from said vein, and from in any manner interfering with said defendants or their heirs or assigns, or any of them, in their working of said vein or lode upon the dip thereof, or in the extraction, treatment, sale 'or disposal of ore therefrom, unless it shall hereafter be shown that the apex of said vein departs from the Grand Trunk claim, in which event the plaintiff shall have leave to apply for a modification of this order, and decree to the extent owned by such departure.

The case was thereupon appealed to the supreme court and is now before this court for review.

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Bluebook (online)
22 Colo. App. 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-bailey-coloctapp-1912.