Craddock v. Short
Craddock v. Short
Opinion of the Court
Ejectment for all that part of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 8, township 37, of range 12, in Pulaski county, Missouri, lying west of the right of way of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway.
The petition is in the usual fomi.
The answer admits possession of the land, but. denies all other allegations in the petition. It then sets up an equitable defense, and alleges that, on the-twenty-first day of August, 1869, the South Pacific-Railway Company was the owner in fee simple of all of said southeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and also of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of said section, and that on that day it laid off and platted in lots, blocks; streets, and alleys, and filed the same for record in the recorder’s office of said county on the nineteenth day of October, 1869, the town of Crocker, “that in the said survey and plat-the line dividing the said southeast quarter of the southeast quarter from the-northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, is shown as running along Eleventh street, as shown by said plat and survey; and lots 13, 14, 15, and 16, of block number 63, in said town of Crocker, are shown by said plat and survey to be entirely north of said line, and to be in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter; that thereafter and prior to the fifteenth day of June, 1877, by a series of conveyances, the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company became the owner of all the interest of the said South Pacific Railway Company in and to said property, and that on the second day of
“Wherefore said defendant says that said South Pacific Railway Company and its assigns are, by the filing of the plats as aforesaid, and by laying out of said lots, blocks, and streets, upon the ground, and holding out the same in the neighborhood as being a portion of the town of Crocker, are, and of right ought to be estopped, to say that any portion of said lots here sued for are south of the south line of the said northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of said section 8, and the defendant herein is not only completely and fully estopped as being assignee and privy of the said South Pacific Railroad Company, with notice, but is further estopped by his own conduct herein set forth.”
The answer concludes with a prayer that the title of plaintiff, if any he has, to the property, be divested out óf him, and vested in defendant, and for all proper relief.
Plaintiff by reply denied all allegations in the answer.
There was judgment in favor of defendant from which plaintiff appealed.
It seems that in 1869 the South Pacific Railway Company laid out and platted, in lots, blocks, streets, and alleys, on what was supposed and intended to be the east half of the southeast quarter of section 8, township 37, of range 12, west, the town of Crocker, in Pulaski county. Subsequently the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company succeeded to the rights of the South Pacific Company, and in 1874, on petition of the Atlantic & Pacific Company, the county court of
Thereafter the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company succeeded to the rights of' the Atlantic & Pacific Company, and in 1886 sold to the plaintiff a strip of land described as follows: “All that part of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter (lying west of the right of way of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway) section 8, township 37, range 12.”
In 1892 the defendant acquired by purchase from said St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company all the title that said company then had to lots 13 and 14, in block 62, of said town.
Shortly after his purchase the plaintiff had the southeast quarter of said section surveyed, and by this survey it was ascertained that there was a mistake in the origina) survey of the town in the location of the division line between the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and that in fact that line was forty-one feet further norj¡h than he had located it, and although according to the survey made by the original surveyor in laying off the town, and the stakes then driven by him, lots 13 and 14, of block 63, were in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, it was found by an accurate survey that these two lots were in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter.
After defendant bought the lots he improved them, in connection with the two others adjoining them on the north, by building on the lots in question a blacksmithing shop, and fencing them, with the knowledge and without any objection from plaintiff.
When the facts disclosed by the record in this case are considered the conclusion that plaintiff did not buy or intend to buy the lots for the possession of which he
Moreover, blocks 62 and 63 of said town were not vacated by the order of the county court of Pulaski county, while the rest of the town was, thereby leaving the lots in question as platted, which is quite conclusive that the railway company never intended to. sell, and that plaintiff never intended to buy, said lots. It is perfectly plain that the railway company under which plaintiff derived title would be estopped from asserting that the southern boundary line of the town was incorrectly located, and thus unsettle the boundary lines of the lots, blocks, and alleys, in that part not vacated, to the injury of those who have purchased lots on the faith of the correctness of its location (Burns v. Liberty, 131 Mo. 372), and if the company could not do so it logically follows that plaintiff occupies no better position.
Furthermore, plaintiff stood by and saw defendant improving the lots and interposed no objection thereto, but acquiesced in what was being done, with full knowledge of all the facts and circumstances attending the same.
Reference
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