Adams v. Cumby
Adams v. Cumby
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was an action of ejectment brought by Mrs. Cumby against Mrs. Adams to recover possession of a parcel of land known as lot No. 3 in section “J” of the lands of the Park Avenue Addition, lying in the city of Lynchburg, and bounded as follows: Fronting on Grady avenue twenty-five feet and running back between parallel lines one hundred and twenty-five feet to the line of lot number 59 of the said section J of the lands of the said Park Avenue Addition, as appears from a plat of said Park Avenue Addition of record in the clerk’s office of the county of Campbell.
Upon the trial the jury gave the plaintiff a verdict in the following words: “We, the jury, find for the plaintiff, Mary Ida Cumby, an estate in fee simple in thirteen feet six inches of lot No. 3 in block J, Park Avenue Addition, adjoining lot No. 4, in block J, in said Park Avenue Addition, a part of the land in the declaration mentioned, the line of said lot No. 3 next to lot No. 4 in said block J being sixty-four feet and six inches from the comer of Blackford avenue and Grady avenue in said Park Avenue Addition.” Upon the verdict a judgment was rendered, and the case is before us for review upon a writ of error sued out by Mrs. Adams.
Mrs. Cumby claims title under a deed dated the 25th of January, 1906, made by Mrs. Hughes and her husband, which conveys lots 1, 2 and 3, and a portion of lot 59, section “J,” Park avenue, as shown by a plat of record in Campbell county clerk’s office, deed book 54, page 175. At this point in the deed there is inserted a diagram of the land conveyed, as follows:
This diagram, however, is not otherwise referred to in the deed, which proceeds as follows: “The said parties of the first part covenant that they have the right to convey the said land to the grantee; that they have done no act to encumber the same; that the grantee shall have quiet and peaceable possession of said land, free from all encumbrances, and that they, the parties of the first part will execute such other and further assurance of said land as may be requisite. Witness the following signatures and seals. (Signed) A. B. W. Hughes; B. E. Hughes,” with their seals, and duly acknowledged and admitted to record.
Section “J” of Park Avenue Addition, referred to in the declaration, in the judgment and in the deed just quoted, is bounded on the south by Blackford avenue, on the east by Grady avenue, on the noi’th by Cleveland avenue, .and on the •west by Watts avenue. It is not intended to state with ac
The only question which we need consider is whether the verdict is supported by the evidence. The case of the plaintiff depends upon the testimony of Herbert G. Garland and L K. Hutter.
Garland testifies that he made a survey of the lots of the plaintiff purchased of Mrs. Hughes, from which it appeared that the house of the defendant is on lot 3, one of the lots purchased of Mrs. Hughes, some 13.5 feet; that he had made a map of the plaintiff’s lots showing how much of lot 3 is occupied as lot 4, and in making this survey he commenced at a corner stone in block “J” where Grady and Cleveland avenues intersect, and then running up or out Grady avenue to Blackford avenue, the end of block “J,” to a comer stone, and after giving all of the lots the number of feet frontage on Grady avenue called for in the map of Park Avenue Land Company, which is recorded in the clerk’s office of Campbell county and which is the same map referred to in the deed from A. B. W. Hughes and husband to Mrs. Mary Ida Cumby, there was 14.5 feet to this lot, and by doing this the owner of lot 4 is over on lot 3, 13.5 feet; that he did not know whether the stone in block “J” at the intersection of Grady and Cleveland avenues was located according to the map as recorded or not; that he knew that the corner stone in block 1, at the intersection of Grady and Cleveland avenues, is not at the point fixed by the map, as there has been another lot of 25 feet put in since the map was made and Cleveland avenue shifted north 25 feet from where it is shown to be on this map; that his survey was made on the presumption that the corner stone in block “J” at the intersection of Grady and Cleveland avenues is at the point shown by the map, and if Cleveland avenue at this point
In order the better to understand Garland’s testimony, it may be well to state, that it appears from the map of the Park A.venue Addition of record in Campbell county clerk’s office, that section “J” begins at Blackford avenue, as its southern boundary, and contains lots numbered from 1 to 36, inclusive, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were conveyed by Mrs. Hughes and her husband to Mrs. Cumby. and in order to ascertain the true boundary of her purchase the witness Garland went to the intersection of Cleveland and Grady avenues, which come together so as reduce the most northerly point of section “J” of the Park Avenue Addition to an acute angle. It is obvious that the' probative force of Garland’s testimony depends upon the ac
The evidence of Hutter, the other witness for the plaintiff, merely shows that he has surveyed the plaintiff’s lot for her since her purchase, and according to his survey the house on lot 4 is in part on lot 3, that is the occupier of lot 4 is over on lot three 13.3 feet fronting on Grady avenue, and in making this survey he commenced at the corner stone in block
Exactly the same vice inheres in the testimony of this wit
Mr.- Cumby, the husband of the plaintiff, also testifies in her behalf, but it is not necessary further to discuss his testimony than to say that it is a narrative of what he was told by M. H. Garland, the city surveyor of Lynchburg, who showed to him the lines of lots 1, 2 and 8, and the frontage on Grady avenue.
The witnesses for the defendant satisfactorily explain the whole situation. Mr. Hughes, the husband of Mrs. A. B. W. Hughes, who conveyed the property in question to Mrs. Cumby, testifies that he was secretary and treasurer of the Park Avenue Land and Improvement Company; that its land was surveyed and platted by M. H. Garland, under his observation and supervision; and that the survey and map were recorded in the clerk’s office of Campbell county some time prior to the setting of the corner stones; that when the corner stones were being set on the different blocks it was reported by M. H. Garland that Cleveland avenue would not connect with the street in front of the little church on the cotton mill property east of Grady avenue by some 25 feet or more; that the witness went out to the place and had another lot made or added to block “I,” extending Cleveland avenue 25 feet farther north than the map called for, and block “J” should 'have been shifted on the west side of Grady avenue; that Cleveland avenue should have been shifted north to correspond with the shifting on block “I;” that he could not sajr whether the stone was set or not at the place called for on the map in block “J” or some little distance farther north, but it should have been a little farther north; that the map in the land company’s office showed lot 1 to have 67 feet in the rear and running parallel with Watts avenue, and he, as agent for Mrs. A. B. W. Hughes, purchased lot 1 as 67 feet in the rear with a line at right angles to Grady avenue to in
C. L. DeMott also testified for the defendant, that he was a civil engineer and had had practical experience for some twenty years, and as such he surveyed lots 1, 2 and 3 in block “Jthat he began at a stone, or monument at the intersection of Grady avenue and Blackford avenue on block “J,” and running with Blackford avenue 118 feet, thence running parallel with Watts avenue 67 feet, thence a perpendicular line to Grady avenue, giving lot 1, 3.63 feet on Grady avenue; that he platted lots 1, 2, 3, 4. 5 and 6 of block “ J,” and in making-' this survey he took the map as recorded in the clerk’s office- and the. one introduced by the. plaintiff of the Park Avenue' Land Company as recorded in the clerk’s office of Campbell
It fully appears that Mrs. Cumby was, at the institution of this suit in possession of every foot of land that she had purchased. Her whole case seems to turn upon the fact that the copy of the map of the Park Avenue Addition of record in Campbell county fails to give the length of the rear line as 67 feet, while every other copy of that map and all the maps of the addition other than that place that line at that length. If the contention of defendant in error were to be established it would not only be wholly contradictory of the maps, extend her rear line from 67 to 78 feet, and change the configuration of lot 1 from a. pentagon to a parallelogram, but would result, if the same process of reasoning and proof were pursued with respect to the other lots, in disturbing the boundary line of every lot in block “J,” for it is certain that lot 4 is entitled to 25 feet frontage on Grady avenue, which it should upon like principles, if this judgment were sustained,
We are of opinion that the evidence wholly fails to sustain the verdict; that the judgment should be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial to be had in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Reversed.
Reference
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- 1. Boundaries — Case at Bar. — The evidence in the case at bar wholly fails to sustain the verdict found for the plaintiff in the trial court. If the contention of the plaintiff as to the boundary between her lot and that of the defendant were to be established it would not only be wholly contradictory of the maps of the block in which the lot in controversy is situated, extend the plaintiff’s rear line from 67 to 78 feet, and change the configuration of lot 1 in that block from a pentagon to a parallelogram, but, by the same system of reasoning and proof, would , disturb the boundary lines of every lot in that block. The vice in the plaintiff’s evidence is in assuming the wrong starting point from which to make measurements. Upon the evidence, the verdict should have been for the defendant, and not for the plaintiff.