Naddy v. Dietze

86 N.W. 753, 15 S.D. 26, 1901 S.D. LEXIS 76
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 12, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 86 N.W. 753 (Naddy v. Dietze) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Naddy v. Dietze, 86 N.W. 753, 15 S.D. 26, 1901 S.D. LEXIS 76 (S.D. 1901).

Opinion

Corson, J.

This is an action to quiet title to certain mining property. Findings and judgment for the defendants, and the plaintiff appeals. The pleadings may he briefly stated as follows: The plaintiff alleged that he was the owner of, in the possession of, and entitled to the possession of, the Gold Run lode and the Gold Run Fraction lode; that the defendants claimed some interest in said lodes by virtue of the pretended location called “Peacemaker Fraction Lode” which was adverse to plaintiff and unfounded, and embarrassed plaintiff in the disposition of his property. The causes of action as to the Gold Run lode and Gold Run Fraction lode were stated separately. For a third cause of action, the plaintiff, to obtain equitable relief, set up facts which would entitle him to an injunction. The defendants, for answer to the complaint of plaintiff, denied each and every allegation, except as thereinafter admitted, and specifiically denied that plaintiff was the owner ,in possession or entitled to the possession of the premises described in the several paragraphs of the complaint, and alleged that, if such mining lodes or locations ever existed, they had been abandoned long prior to any rights acquired by the defendants, and had become part of the public domain, subject to location under the mining laws of the United States. The defendants admitted that they claimed an estate, right, title or interest within the limits of said claims by virtue of a certain location called the “Peacemaker Fraction Lode,” and admitted that said claim of defendants was adverse to plaintiff. Further answering the complaint, the defendants alleged that on the 14th day of December, 1897, they made a valid location of the Peacemaker Fraction Lode, setting out the various steps that are required by the [28]*28statute in order to make the location of a mining claim, including the discovery, staking, posting of the notice on the claim, and recording of the same. The court in its findings of fact, found “that said plaintiff, William Naddy, is not the owner of, nor in the possession of, nor entitled to the possession of, the certain property described in the first paragraph of the plaintiff’s first cause of action as the ‘Gold Run Lode.’ ” The court found the,, same facts as to the Gold Run Fraction lode described in the second cause of action. The court further found “that said plaintiff, William Naddy, is not the owner of, nor in possession of, ñor entitled to the possession of, the certain alleged Gold Run lode, or to the certain alleged Gold Run Fraction lode, described and referred- to in the plaintiff’s complaint, first paragraph of the third cause of action. * * * That said plaintiff has no right, title, interest, claim, equity or demand in or to the said lodes, or either of them, or any part, parcel, or portion thereof; that said plaintiff was not upon the 14th day of December, 1897, nor at any time since, the owner of or in possession of the property, or entitled to the possession of the property, described in the plaintiff’s complaint as the ‘Gold Run Lode’ and the Gold Run Fraction Lode,’ nor any part, parcel, or portion thereof“that all of the issues of fact raised by the pleadings in this case are hereby found and decided in favor of said defendants, and each of them, and against said plaintiff.” The court found as to the defendants’ claim all the facts specifically required to constitute a good mining location, and concluded that said defendants have duly complied with all the laws of the United States, of the state of South Dakota, and all the rules and regulations in any wise relating to or 'appertaining to the location of quartz mining claims. The court further finds that plaintiff claims some right, title, estate, or interest in and to said Peacemaker Fraction lode claimed by the defendants, and that said [29]*29claims of plaintiff are .adverse to said defendants, and are unfounded in law and in fact, and embarrass said defendants in the use, enjoyment, and disposal of the property, wherefore the court concludes, as matter of law, that plaintiff is not entitled to relief as prayed for in his complaint, and that the defendants are entitled to a decree, as prayed for in their answer, quieting their title in and to said Peacemaker Fraction lode as against the said plaintiff and all persons claiming or to claim the same, or any part thereof, under or through said plaintiff.

The plaintiff alleges error in making no findings of fact upon the issues tendered by the first and second causes of action, and that the court erred in entering judgment in favor of the defendants and against plaintiff without making and filing findings of fact upon the issues raised by the complaint of plaintiff and the answer of defendants. The learned counsel for appellant in their brief state that there is but one proposition to be presented in this case, and that is whether, when a plaintiff relies upon a mining location not patented, as the record shows claim of plaintiff not to have been, and the defendant sets up an adverse mining claim, is it sufficient for the court to find merely that the plaintiff was not the owner of the lode set out in the complaint, or whether the specific facts upon which the plaintiff relies should be found by the court. And they contend that the findings of the court in this .case are insufficient upon which to base a judgment in favor of the defendants. The respondents insist: First, That as the appeal is simply from the judgment, no findings having been presented to the court on the part of the appellant, no exception taken to any of the findings and no motion made for a new trial, there is nothing before the court but the findings and judgment, and it does not appear from any of these that the plaintiff gave any proof as to the making of a discovery, staking a claim, doing work thereon, [30]*30or doing any of the other acts required in locating a mining claim, and hence, for aught that appears in the record, the plaintiff may have relied upon a patent or deed from a patentee of the government. Second, They further insist that, as the plaintiff alleged his title generally, it was sufficient for the court to find the issues substantially as they were alleged in the complaint and denied by the answer. Thiid. They insist that the plaintiff is precluded from raising any question as to the sufficiency of the findings in this court, for the reason that no findings were prepared and presented to the court, and no request made for further findings on the part of the plaintiff.

We are of the opinion that the respondents are correct in all of these positions. There is nothing in the record disclosing to this court that the plaintiff introduced any evidence as to any discovery or acts of location, and, in the absence of such evidence, this court cannot presume that any such evidence was before the trial court. As we have seen, the plaintiff alleges that he is the owner, in the possession and entitled to the possession, of certain property described in the complaint. These allegations are denied by the answer. The court, upon this issue, finds that the plaintiff was not the owner, not in possession, and not entitled to the possession, of the premises described in the complaint, and that he had no right, title, or interest therein. The ultimate facts, therefore, to be found by the court, were as to appellant’s title, possession, and right to-possession, and these were all found against him. It is not easy the perceive, therefore, what other fact it was necessary for the court to have found, under the pleadings, in order to sustain the judgment in favor of the defendants. In Daly v. Sorocco, 80 Cal. 367, 22 Pac. 211, this identical question was before the supreme court of California.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 N.W. 753, 15 S.D. 26, 1901 S.D. LEXIS 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/naddy-v-dietze-sd-1901.