Kelley v. Waymeyer

204 S.W.2d 744, 356 Mo. 1043, 1947 Mo. LEXIS 656
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 13, 1947
DocketNo. 40267.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 204 S.W.2d 744 (Kelley v. Waymeyer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kelley v. Waymeyer, 204 S.W.2d 744, 356 Mo. 1043, 1947 Mo. LEXIS 656 (Mo. 1947).

Opinion

CLARK, J.

Plaintiff sued defendants in the circuit court of Carter County, his petition being in four counts :

Count, one alleges that plaintiff owns certain lots fronting on certain streets and alleys in the town of Chilton; that defendants have un *1045 lawfully erected and maintain fences across these streets and alleys, thereby depriving -plaintiff of access to his property, and plaintiff prays a mandatory injunction to compel defendants to remove the fences.

Count two alleges that plaintiff owns in fee simple certain described land, being part of the abandoned right-of-way and depot grounds of a railway; that defendants claim some interest and plaintiff prays to be adjudged the owner.

In count three plaintiff asserts title to lots 4 and 5 in block 1 in the original town of Chilton and prays that title be decreed accordingly- . ■

In count four plaintiff claims an easement over described land for the purpose of removing sand and gravel.

The answer of defendants controverts the material allegations of the petition; claims title, both by deeds and adverse possession, to the land abandoned by the railway and to lots 4 and 5 in block 1 and prays title to be decreed accordingly.

The case was tried by the court without a jury and a decree rendered in favor of defendants under counts' one, two and' three arid in favor of plaintiff under count four. Plaintiff has appealed.

The question before us on this appeal involves the correctness of the trial court’s decree: (1) in sustaining defendants’ right to erect and maintain fences across streets and alleys; (2) in awarding title in defendants to the abandoned railway property; (3) in awarding title in defendants to lots 4 and 5 in block 1.

The evidence shows that a plat of the town of Chilton was filed in the recorder’s office in 1887, showing lots and blocks, streets and alleys and a strip marked right-of-way and depot grounds of Current River Railroad. Apparently few lots were ever sold. At the time of the trial appellant was the undisputed owner of about a dozen lots, upon one of which he conducts a store. One street, running through the town in front of appellant’s store remains open. Most of the remainder of the town site, including the abandoned railroad land, is fenced ás a part of a farm which defendant Wáymeyer has had in possession for many years.

In 1912 the county court nnade an order vacating most of the streets and alleys of the town of Chilton. Appellant contends that this order is void because it fails to show that a notice was given as required by the statute then in force, citing, State ex rel. v. Pub. Serv. Comm., 234 Mo. App. 470, 134 S. W. (2d). 1069; State v. Pemberton, 235 Mo. App. 1128, 151 S. W. (2d) 111, and State ex rel. v. Corneli, 351 Mo. 1, 171 S. W. (2d) 687. Those cases are not in point. State ex rel. v. Public Service Commission involves no question pertinent to the instant case. Probably appellant intended to cite State ex rel. v. Smith, 134 S. W. (2d) 1061, l. c. 1069, but it merely holds that a judgment which is void on its face may be collaterally attacked. In *1046 State v. Pemberton it was held that a petition did not allege the facts • necessary to give the county court jurisdiction to call an election. In State ex rel. v. Corneli the county court was not acting judicially, but as a board of equalization and jurisdiction of such boards must affirmatively appear.

In vacating the streets in the instant case, the county court was acting judicially in a matter entrusted to it by statute. It was then a court of limited jurisdiction, but its judgment is entitled to the same favorable presumptions accorded in like cases to circuit courts and can be collaterally attacked only for some defect in the judgment or some necessary proceeding upon which the judgment was based. [Bingham v. Kollman, 256 Mo. 573, 165 S. W. 1097.] Such courts, as to judgments in matters conferred upon them by law “are entitled to the same favorable presumptions arising from either the affirmative statements, or the silence of their records, as are accorded in similar cases to the circuit courts.” [Roloson v. Riggs, 274 Mo. 522, l. c. 530, 203 S. W. 973.] The mere fact that the judgment of the county court fails to recite that notice was given does not authorize its collateral impeachment. In the absence of proof to' the contrary it is presumed that requisite notice was given. [Scanland v. Walters, 305 Mo. 415, l. c. 428, 265 S. W. 688.]

We hold that the trial court did not err in ruling the streets and alleys mentioned in the order of the county court had been properly vacated.

The railroad abandoned its land in the town of Chilton in 1938 or 1939. An easement over this land had been conveyed to the railroad by deeds executed in 1887 and 1889 by Missouri Lumber and Mining Company, a corporation. Appellant claims title to this land by deed executed by the last named corporation in August 1942. However, the grantee named in that deed, as shown by the record, is Carter County. We are inclined to think that the deed was incorrectly copied into'the transcript and that the name of appellant was inadvertently omitted as grantee. Even so, the deed is. not sufficient to show title in appellant. At the time the deed was executed title to the abandoned railroad property had reverted to the owner of the abutting land at the time of the abandonment, [Brown v. Weare, 348 Mo. 135, 152 S. W. (2d) 649] and the grantor corporation was not shown to be such owner. Defendant Moore received a deed from the railroad corporation in 1942 purporting to convey this prop erty. That is the reason Moore is a defendant in this suit, although we understand he does not now claim to be the owner and there is an intimation in the record that he has given a quite claim deed to his co-defendant. The deed from the railroad corporation conveyed no title, because it had only an easement to use the land for railway purposes and lost all interest when it voluntarily abandoned and ceased to use the land for such purposes. Since September, 1939, defendant *1047 Waymeyer has been in possession of his present farm including most of the town of Chilton and, particularly, the land abutting on that formerly used for railway purposes. He holds under a deed from some grantor whose identity is not disclosed by the record, but the evidence shows that he and his grantors had been in open possession, under color of title, paying 'taxes and claiming to own this farm for at least fifteen years prior to this suit. None of the parties proved a good record title to the abandoned railway property or the land abutting thereon. But, while Waymeyer’s plea of title by adverse possession is somewhat crudely drawn and some of his evidence in support thereof might have been subject to proper and timely ob-. jection, yet, as no such objections were made either at the trial or in a motion for new trial, we hold that his pleading and evidence are sufficient to support the court’s decree giving him title as against appellant.

The evidence presents a different question as to the title to' lots 4 and 5 in block 1 of the town of Chilton.

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Bluebook (online)
204 S.W.2d 744, 356 Mo. 1043, 1947 Mo. LEXIS 656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelley-v-waymeyer-mo-1947.