Howard v. Twibell

100 N.E. 372, 179 Ind. 67, 1913 Ind. LEXIS 21
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 10, 1913
DocketNo. 22,112
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 100 N.E. 372 (Howard v. Twibell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howard v. Twibell, 100 N.E. 372, 179 Ind. 67, 1913 Ind. LEXIS 21 (Ind. 1913).

Opinion

Myers, J.

Action by appellee against appellants and others to quiet title to real estate. The complaint is in one paragraph, and the answer of all defendants who answered, in general denial, some of them defaulting. Appellant Maud Howard and one Burk filed cross-complaints seeking to quiet title by adverse possession to separate portions of the real estate described in the complaint. There was a trial by the court, finding, and judgment in 1906 in favor of appellee on the complaint and cross-complaint, quieting title in him against all the parties. Appellant Maud Howard filed a motion for, and obtained a new trial as of right. Appellee was the only party defendant to her cross-complaint, and the original judgment against the other original defendants stands so far as the record discloses, and the trial was had on the issues between appellants and appellee, which resulted in a judgment in 1908 against appellants only, and from that judgment the appeal is presented.

[69]*691. 2. [68]*68A motion is made to dismiss the appeal for failure of appellants to join any of the other original parties. The interest of appellants was a distinct and separate issue as to [69]*69separate real estate, from all other persons, being a contest as to title between appellants and appellee only as to that property, and a reversal of the judgment of 1908 could have no effect on the judgment of 1906, or affect any of the other parties to it in any way, nor have any of them any interest in either an affirmance or a reversal of the judgment of 1908, hence none of them have any interest in that judgment or in this appeal, and they were not necessary parties. They are not even parties to the record, much less parties to the judgment, and the rule is, that it is parties to the judgment who must be joined as appellants in vacation appeals, as this is, and notice given to them. Kaufman v. Preston (1902), 158 Ind. 361, 63 N. E. 570; Lowe v. Turpie (1897), 147 Ind. 652, 44 N. E. 25, 47 N. E. 150, 37 L. R. A. 233; Haymaker v. Schneck (1903), 160 Ind. 443, 67 N. E. 181. The motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.

3. 4. Appellants claim under their motion for a new trial that appellee, having asserted a fee simple title in his complaint, has failed by the evidence to show such title, but shows, if anything, only an equitable title. The claim is made because he does not deraign his title from the government, but shows an entry by John Blount, and no deed to Blount in the chain of title. As to this matter it is sufficient to say that both parties claim through a common source of title, a common grantor in possession, and this is sufficient. Wilson v. Peelle (1881), 78 Ind. 384, 388; McWhorter v. Heltzell (1890), 124 Ind. 129, 131, 24 N. E. 743. And while appellee was bound to show title in himself, and cannot avail himself of the weakness of the title of his adversary, he does show possession in himself and his grantors of the great bulk of the property, under a deed describing the property in his complaint, for more than fifty years, which would be sufficient as constructive possession of the whole, and sufficient to base a title in fee upon, if adverse possession were not shown in another [70]*70for the required twenty years. Sinclair v. Gunzenhauser (1913), post 78, 98 N. E. 37, 100 N. E. 376, and cases cited.

Appellants deraign title from John Blount or Blunt, through a deed dated November 5, 1855, for ten acres by metes and bounds, in the certificate of the acknowledgment of which he is called John Blunt. Appellee deraigns title from John Blunt and Barbara Blunt his wife, in the certificate of acknowledgement to which he is called Bloynt, and she Blount, dated December 25', 1871. The name John “Blount” in the first deed and John “Blunt” in the other, is signed by mark. The land was entered in 1834 by the style of John Blount. The description in the complaint is as follows: All that certain part of the west half of section 3, in township 24 north, of range 11 east, bounded as follows, viz., Beginning at a point on the east line of the southwest quarter of said section 3, 20.28 chains north from the southeast comer of said southwest quarter of said section 3, the magnetic bearing and the true bearing of said east line of said southwest quarter of said section 3 being north, and running then west at right angles with said east line of said southwest quarter of said section 3, 10.90 chains, thence north 5 degrees west, or at an angle of 95 degrees with the last-described line, a distance of 13.50 chains; thence south 74 degrees 30 minutes west, or at an angle of 79 degrees 30 minutes with the last-described line a distance of 8.40 chains, thence north, or at an angle with the last-described line of 74 degrees 30 minutes, a distance of 7 chains to the center of the Salamonia River, thence up the middle of the channel of said river to where said channel of said river is intersected by said north line of said southwest quarter of said section 3, thence east with said north line of said southwest quarter of said section 3, 4.51 chains to the northeast comer of said southwest quarter of said section 3, thence south with said east line of said southwest quarter of said section 3 and at right angles with said north line of said southwest [71]*71quarter of said section 3, 19.67 chains to the place of beginning, containing 30.33 acres more or less.

The second claim is, that the complaint must contain a certain definite description of the real estate, the title to which is sought to be quieted. On its face there is apparently no difficulty in locating the lines. The lines would be run with reference to the north and south centre line of section 3, being a due north and south line, in addition to the fact that it is alleged in the complaint that the true and magnetic meridian is north, or identical.

5. It is urged also that the name John Blunt, conveying property entered by John Blount, is not sufficient to support the claim of title. In this appellants are in error. The names are idem sonans. Pinney v. State (1901), 156 Ind. 167, 59 N. E. 383; Evans v. State (1898), 150 Ind. 651, 50 N. E. 820; Smurs v. State (1883), 88 Ind. 504; Williams v. Hitzie (1882), 83 Ind. 303, 307; Siebert v. State (1884), 95 Ind. 471; Alvord v. Moffatt (1858), 10 Ind. 366, 367; 29 Cyc. 272-275. Besides, witnesses testified who knew Blount or Blunt, and knew of his possession of the forty-acre tract, and there was no question of identity of the person, and both parties claim through him as the common source of title.

The deed under which appellants claim title describes by metes and bounds 10 acres in the southwest corner of the same 40 acres entered by John Blount, and some of the bearings in that description are identical with those in the deed under which appellee claims, which conveys all the same 40 acres except 10 acres in the southwest corner, disclosing that the same base line was referred to in each. There is this, however, to be said with respect to the description, and it furnishes the basis for the controversy, that the difficulty lies in applying the lines on the ground, and the confusion which arises under the evidence of the surveyors. The real controversy grows out of the fact that owing to the variation of the magnetic meridian north and south from the true

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Matanich v. American Oil
216 N.E.2d 359 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1966)
Shuck Ex Rel. Shuck v. Shuck
44 N.W.2d 767 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1950)
Rouse v. Paidrick
49 N.E.2d 528 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1943)
Smith v. Vermont Marble Company
133 A. 355 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1926)
Tolleston Club v. Carson
123 N.E. 169 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1919)
Beck v. Miller
121 N.E. 281 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1918)
Buchanan v. St. Louis & M. R.
253 F. 698 (Eighth Circuit, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 N.E. 372, 179 Ind. 67, 1913 Ind. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howard-v-twibell-ind-1913.