Case ID: cal_51/html/0529-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

[No. 5084.]
    JOHN B. FELTON et al. v. E. P. JUSTICE et al.
    Action to enjoin threatened Trespasses.—An action to enjoin the commission of trespasses on land cannot be maintained when the plaintiff is totally disseised and the defendant is in the adverse possession of the land.
    Appeal from the District Court, Seventeenth Judicial District, County of Los Angeles.
    The plaintiffs, in their complaint, alleged that they owned the Azusa rancho; that there was and had been for twenty years, on said rancho, a ditch for the conveyance of water through which water from the San Gabriel river was appropriated; that for twenty years plaintiffs had been in possession of the ditch and used the water to run a mill and irrigate a vineyard on the rancho; that, in October, 1873, defendants, with force and arms, ousted plaintiffs from the possession of the ditch and converted to their own use the water flowing therein, and threatened to continue the trespass, and that plaintiffs’ vineyard would be destroyed and the mill rendered valueless if the defendants carried out their threats. There was a prayer for damages and an injunction. The court overruled a demurrer to the complaint. On the trial the plaintiffs waived damages. The court gave judgment, granting the injunction. The defendants appealed.
    
      
      V. E. & F. H. Howard and McConnell, Bicknell & Orthchild, for the Appellants.
    
      Brunson, Eastman & Graves, for the Respondents.
   By the Court:

The purpose of this action is to enjoin the commission of trespasses upon lands alleged to be the property of plaintiffs. The plaintiffs allege that the defendant had entered upon the lands, and ousted and removed plaintiffs therefrom, prior to the time when the alleged trespasses were committed and threatened.

An action at law cannot be maintained for trespasses committed on land when the plaintiff is totally disseised and the defendant is in the adverse possession thereof. (Raffelto v. Fiori, 50 Cal. 363.)

A fortiori, in such case a court of equity will not intervene to restrain the commission of threatened trespasses.

Judgment reversed and cause remanded.