Orrick Dehydrating Co. v. Edwards

673 S.W.2d 48, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3861
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 9, 1984
DocketNo. WD 34146
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 673 S.W.2d 48 (Orrick Dehydrating Co. v. Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orrick Dehydrating Co. v. Edwards, 673 S.W.2d 48, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3861 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

PRITCHARD, Presiding Judge.

As to the present parties on this appeal, this suit was begun by Orrick Dehydrating Company, Inc., and American Wilcon Plastic, Inc., against the Edwards for possession of a small triangular tract of land lying in the eastern portion of Orrick, Missouri, in Ray County, Missouri. The defendants, Edwards, counterclaimed alleging that they and their predecessors had been in adverse, open, actual, notorious, hostile, exclusive, uninterrupted and undisputed possession of the real estate since January, 1947, and prayed that all right, title and interest of plaintiffs in the real estate be divested and that title in fee simple be declared to be in defendants by limitation.

The trial court adjudged that Orrick and American Wilcon were the titleholders to the real estate in question, that the Edwards were in possession of it, which, upon demand of same, the Edwards’ possession was wrongful and unlawful, “and that the original and continued use of said real estate by the Defendants and their predecessors in title was permissive and not adverse.” Judgment was entered for plaintiffs against defendants for possession, but without damages, and defendants were given the right to remove any and all standing crops.

The whole of the land may be described generally as having a point of beginning on the west line of Section 24, Township 51, Range 29, then north along the line 105 feet, east 624.42 feet, south 310.12 feet to the right-of-way of the Wabash Railway, thence in a northwesterly direction 650.47 [50]*50feet to the point of beginning. Of this whole, the Edwards claim this description as having been acquired by them by adverse possession: “Part of the NW lk of the SW lh of Section 24, Township 51 North, Range 29 West, Ray County, Missouri and within the corporate limits of the City of Orrick, Missouri, starting at a point on the Northerly right-of-way line of the Old Wabash Railroad Company now the Norfolk and Western Railroad which point is North 584.97 feet along the West line of said xk ¼ section from the Southwest corner of said ¼ ¼ Section, thence continuing along the West line of said ¼ xk Section, North 105.0 feet to the point of beginning; thence N 87 degrees 44' 12", E, 544.42 feet; thence East 80.0 feet; then South 80 feet; thence to a Northwesterly direction to the point of beginning.” The tract claimed is triangularly shaped, containing about 4/io of an acre.

The chain of record title to the whole tract begins with conveyances by Paul and Emma Bailey in 1943 and 1944 to W.J. Small Company. Charles H. Edwards (who died in 1955) and his wife, Sallie, had acquired 30 acres of the tract from the Baileys in 1947, and conveyed it also to the W.J. Small Company in 1951. No deeds from the Small Company have been deposited here, but apparently there were subsequent owners of the whole tract which was acquired by Orrick Dehydrating from Western Alfalfa in 1969 by warranty deed. Orrick Dehydrating erected a large building 300 by 80 feet, an office 30 by 20 feet; two storage tanks, and a “leg” 60 feet. Orrick sold a southern portion of the tract to plaintiff Wilcon Plastic, Inc., containing about 2.029 acres including the large building. Orrick retained a portion of the tract lying to the north of that of Wilcon.

Billy O’Dell, a farmer and president of Orrick, testified that Ruth Edwards’ husband, Hank, farmed the land in 1946, and the same land was being farmed at the time of trial, at which time there were crops growing on it, twenty-three 30 inch rows, or 69 feet south of the northeast corner, the rows getting smaller in number to the west (as the triangle tapers), which land had been farmed since Orrick Dehydrating was formed in 1964, that company having been shut down in 1974.

Wilcon Plastic’s finance secretary, Tom McNally, testified merely that it had purchased a portion of the real estate upon which the buildings are constructed, the north line of which runs east and west with a gravel road running adjacent to the east-west building west of a paved road.

Licensed surveyor, James Pack, had surveyed the property in June of 1979 and 1980. He marked the northeast corner with an 18" steel rod; and made survey maps which are in evidence. When he placed the rod, it was in a cornfield, and looking south from the rod, there were 20 to 25 corn rows extending 60 to 80 feet. Looking west from the rod, the cornfield narrowed down and stopped at a fence at the west end, where he placed an “X” on a map to show where the cultivation of corn stopped. The cornfield was 20 to 30 feet north of a mobile home on the property. Pack drew an irregular, wavy line on a map indicating the south line of the area in cultivation, starting at the “X” on the map. West of a post near the “X” there was a pasture or yard but no cultivation.

Witness John Townsend, for plaintiffs, testified that there was cultivation east of the “X” placed on the map by Pack, but there was none west of the “X”. On the eastern boundary of the land, the furthermost cultivation (to the south) was 70 feet, and as it ran westward, it ran out to nothing at the “X” point indicated by Pack. On cross-examination, Townsend testified that he was an officer of Orrick; the Edwards family had not paid that company any money for the use of the land, and the company had not contributed to any of the expense for the cultivation.

Billy O’Dell, on recall, testified that W.J. Small (for whom he had worked as a young man) was in a position when he toured the property to view the land to the north of the plant when it was under cultivation.

Free] Edwards is a son of Charles and Sallie Edwards, and had lived in the gener[51]*51al area of Orrick, Missouri, for 72 years. He listed his brothers and sisters as Helen Crabtree, Forrest Edwards, both living, Charles Henry Edwards, deceased, who left Ruth Edwards as his widow who is still living and a party to the action, and Phillip Edwards, deceased, whose son, Phillip Edwards, was still living and a party to the action. Freel remembered when the Baileys sold his father the 30 acres in 1947. Freel, his father and his brother, Henry, farmed the land until 1951. Forrest farmed it from 1951 to 1955, and Henry farmed it from 1955 to 1966 until his death. Freel’s three sons farmed it after 1966, and about a month before trial, Freel “laid the beans by”. The year before the land was in corn. The southern line of the field that the Edwards used was at about the same place when the Small Company was there, likewise when Archer Daniels Midland and Western Alfalfa had the property. It had not changed since Orrick Dehydrating and American Wilcon Plastic got it, and it was in the same location at the time of trial.

Freel testified further that his family never shared any income from that land with anyone, but they just ran it like it was theirs. No expense money was paid them by way of the companies which operated in the area. The Edwards family continuously occupied the land since acquisition to the present, holding it out as their property and so considering it. No one told them until the present suit that they were farming someone else’s land, or to get off of it, and they never received permission from anyone to farm the contested strip and never sought any permission because they believed it was theirs. The property line had never been fenced, and the family just paid the taxes on the statements the county sent them, but he believed that the tax statements were based upon the deeds recorded at the courthouse.

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Bluebook (online)
673 S.W.2d 48, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orrick-dehydrating-co-v-edwards-moctapp-1984.