Louvall v. Gridley

Citations

• 70 Cal. 507
• 11 P. 777
• 1886 Cal. LEXIS 831

Syllabus

<p>Quieting Title—Estate of Decedent—Personal Representative and Heirs are Proper Parties. —In an action to. quiet title to land against the estate of a deceased person, both the personal representative of the decedent and his heirs at law are proper parties defendant.</p> <p>Id. — Amendment — Joinder of Personal Representative.—Where a ' general leave to amend has been obtained, the plaintiff has a right to join other proper parties as defendants without special permission so to do.</p> <p>Id.—Change of Nature of Action—Misjoinder of Causes of Action. — The action was brought to quiet title to certain land. The original complaint alleged that the plaintiff’s devisor was the owner of the land, ■ and conveyed the same by a deed absolute in form to one Gridley in 1866; that the deed was intended as a mortgage to secure an indebtedness, which had subsequently been fully paid; that Gridley promised to reconvey the property, but died without having done so. It was further alleged that the deed constituted a cloud on the title of the plaintiff. The widow and children of Gridley were made parties defendant. The plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint, making the administratrix of the estate of Gridley also a defendant; and further alleging that the plaintiff’s devisor remained in the actual, open, notorious, uninterrupted, and exclusive possession of the land, claiming the same as his own, and adversely to every other right, from the time of the execution of the deed until his death in 1883. The prayer was for a decree establishing the ownership of the plaintiff to the land, and that the defendants had no right or title therein; that the deed be declared a mortgage and canceled of record, and that the title of the plaintiff be quieted. Held, on demurrer and motion to strike out, that the amended complaint did not materially change the nature of the action, and that several causes of action were not improperly joined.</p> <p>In.—Statute oe Limitations—Immaterial I