Van Horn v. Decrow

68 P. 472, 136 Cal. 117, 1902 Cal. LEXIS 665
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 1902
DocketL.A. No. 924.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 68 P. 472 (Van Horn v. Decrow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Horn v. Decrow, 68 P. 472, 136 Cal. 117, 1902 Cal. LEXIS 665 (Cal. 1902).

Opinion

VAN DYKE, J.

In the complaint it is alleged that on the twenty-ninth day of September, 1892, the defendants, then being the owners of the water right and irrigation ditch known as “The Snoderly Irrigation Ditch” in San Bernardino. County, sold and conveyed to the plaintiff a one-fourth undivided interest therein, by deed made and executed on that date; that continuously from the date of said purchase to and until the fifteenth day of July, 1899, defendants and plaintiff, as joint owners, used the said water—alleged to be four hundred inches measurement—for irrigation and domestic purposes on their respective places, and that plaintiff used one fourth of said four hundred inches, and was thereby enabled to and did irrigate his crops, fruit, alfalfa, etc.;. that on the fifth day of July, 1899, the defendants wrongfully and unlawfully, and by force and violence, broke and destroyed plaintiff’s distributing ditch and built a dam at the intake thereof, and thereby prevented any water flowing into plaintiff’s said ditch and from flowing to or on plaintiff’s said premises, and *118 ever since have wrongfully, maliciously, and by force and violence prevented plaintiff from having or using any waters flowing in said Decrow and Snoderly ditch, in consequence of which wrongs and unlawful interference plaintiff was deprived of the use of water to irrigate his crops, trees, etc., to his injury and damage in the sum of eight hundred dollars. That defendants threaten to, and' unless prevented and restrained will, continue to interfere with, divert, and prevent plaintiff from having and using any water flowing in said ditch, to plaintiff’s irreparable injury, loss, and damage. Wherefore plaintiff prays that the defendants be perpetually enjoined and restrained from interfering with or interrupting or diverting plaintiff’s aforesaid water, and that he have judgment for the recovery of the sum of eight hundred dollars damages and costs.

In the answer defendants allege that at the time of the execution of the deed in question conveying the water right to the plaintiff, the defendant George W. Decrow was the owner of only one half of the Decrow and Snoderly ditch referred to in the complaint, and that the defendant Lucy J. Decrow had no interest or claim therein, excepting community right as the wife of said Deerow, defendant; and that several years after the said conveyance,—to wit, on or about the 8th of March, 1895, the said defendant George W. Decrow acquired the right and title to the other half of the said ditch and water right, and that he is, and has been since, the owner of seven eighths of the said ditch and water right. The answer denies that there has been flowing in said ditch four hundred inches of water, or more than one hundred inches of water, measured under a four-inch pressure. Denies that defendants, or either of them, on the fifth day of July, 1899, or at any other time, broke or destroyed plaintiff’s distributing ditch, or in any manner prevented the water from flowing into the same to the full amount of plaintiff’s said right and interest in and to the water of said Decrow and Snoderly ditch, and denies that plaintiff has suffered any loss or damage, or that the plaintiff has been injured in the sum of eight hundred dollars, or any sum, in consequence of any interference by defendants, or either of them, with the plaintiff’s portion of the waters flowing in said ditch, or by any act or conduct of defendants, or either of them.

*119 An amendment to the complaint was filed by the plaintiff, in which it is alleged that before the making of the deed in question the defendants, for the purpose of inducing the plaintiff to purchase an interest in said water right, represented to plaintiff that they owned and had the right to use six hundred inches of water, measured under a four-inch pressure, continuous flow, in said Decrow and Snoderly ditch, and then and there promised to convey to the plaintiff, by good and sufficient deed, one fourth of said six hundred inches of water for irrigation and domestic purposes; and that pursuant to said agreement a deed was prepared, and the plaintiff was informed by the scrivener who prepared the same that it was sufficient in form to convey, and did convey, to plaintiff the one-fourth undivided interest in and to the use of said six hundred inches of water, and the plaintiff believed the same to be true. And thereupon plaintiff accepted said deed, so believing and understanding the'same as aforesaid; but it is alleged that-the deed is ambiguous and uncertain and insufficient in form to convey to the plaintiff the rights and interests which the defendants so promised and agreed to convey, and it is asked that said deed be reformed accordingly. The defendants specifically deny the allegations in said amendments to the complaint.

The court finds that at the time of the execution of the conveyance to the plaintiff of the interest in the Deerow and Snoderly irrigation ditch, mentioned and referred to in the complaint, the defendant, George W. Decrow, was the owner of one undivided half of said ditch and the rights to the waters therein flowing and no more, and the defendant Lucy J. Decrow had no right or interest in the same except the community right as the wife of her co-defendant; that it was the intention of the parties at the time of executing said conveyance that it should convey, and did convey, to the plaintiff one fourth of all the right, title, and interest which the said George W. Deerow then owned in said ditches and flume to the plaintiff’s premises; that thereafter, on the 8th of March, 1895, the defendant George W. Decrow acquired, and he has since owned, the other half of said Decrow and Snoderly ditch and the rights to waters therein flowing, and that the plaintiff never has acquired from the defendants nor owned more than one-eighth interest in the waters flowing *120 in said Deerow and Snoderly ditch; that defendants did not, nor did either of them, promise or agree or intend to convey to the plaintiff the one fourth of six hundred inches of water, or any specific quantity, and that at the time of the execution of said conveyance it was understood and intended by all the parties that the defendants conveyed to plaintiff one fourth, and no more, of the right, title, and interest that said George W. Deerow then owned and held in the aforesaid ditch and flume; that defendants did not, nor did either of them, on the fifth day of July, 1899, or at any other time, by force or violence, or at all, break or destroy plaintiff’s distributing ditch, nor build a dam at the intake thereof, except by the defendant George W. Deerow, for the purpose of using the water flowing in the main ditch at the times of his turn and right to use said water in the usual manner; that the same had been done for several years, and was necessary to do in using the water for irrigating his said premises. In addition to these findings, there is added the following: “The defendant George W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 P. 472, 136 Cal. 117, 1902 Cal. LEXIS 665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-horn-v-decrow-cal-1902.