Los Angeles University v. Swarth

• Decision Date: 04 March 1901
• Docket Number: 612.
• Citation: Los Angeles University v. Swarth, 107 F. 798 (9th Cir. 1901)
• Parties: LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY et al. v. SWARTH et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

107 F. 798

LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY et al. v. SWARTH et al.

No. 612.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

March 4, 1901

This is an appeal from an order granting a preliminary injunction.The suit was brought by the appellees to restrain the appellants from converting and using part of the campus of the Los Angeles University for the purpose of excavating drilling, and digging into the land for oil, and from erecting, on and over the surface of the land, buildings and derricks, and from converting the campus into an oil field and a place for conducting an oil business, to the injury and damage of the land as a campus for a university or an institution of learning and education.The bill alleges among other things, that in the year 1886the complainants and John S. Maltman, and G. R. Shatto were the owners of large tracts of land adjoining the city of Los Angeles situated on the city's western boundary, which said land has since become part of the municipality of Los Angeles by annexation; that during the year 1886 a number of persons representing and being members of the religious organization known as the 'Baptist Denomination in Southern California,' devised and projected a plan for the establishment and maintenance of a university for educational purposes, to be located in or near the city of Los Angelesstate of California, to be under the control of the Baptist Denomination; that members, representatives, and agents of the said Baptist Denomination represented to complainants that they were authorized by said denomination to search out the most suitable location that could be secured for a campus, and land that could be obtained by donation to aid in the establishment of said university; that the agents and representatives of said denomination requested and urged complainants to donate their interests in the land described in the bill of complaint for part of a campus for said university, and to this end they set forth the many benefits that would accrue to the owners of lands in the vicinity of such an institution, (in) drives, walks, trees, shrubs, and flowers, and college buildings, residences for professors, and the many sales of lots and lands that would be made to those preferring homes amid refinement and culture, where their children could have the advantages of a Christian education; that in furtherance of said plans, and to assist the establishment of said university, many subscriptions of money and lands were thus solicited and secured from owners of land in the vicinity of said campus; that to this purpose complainants and J. S. Maltman and G. R. Shatto agreed to subscribe, and did subscribe, as a gift for a campus, 15 acres of land, to be used exclusively as a campus for said proposed university; that the agents, representatives, and members of the said Baptist Denomination and others associated themselves in the establishment of said university, and organized for that purpose, under the laws of the state of California, a corporation for that purpose, under the laws of the known as the 'Los Angeles University.'Complainants allege that they joined in said subscription, and promised to give the interest owned by them in said land for a campus, relying upon the representations made, and believing that the same would be carried out, and that a university that would be a seat of learning under the control and patronage of the organization known as the 'Baptist Denomination' would be erected on said land, and that the same would be used exclusively and only as a campus for said university, and for no other purpose, and for all time; that thereafter, on September 16, 1886, in compliance with the promise made and set forth in said subscription, complainants and John S. Maltman made a deed of grant conveying to said Los Angeles University the land described in the bill, comprising 7 1/2 acres, being the south half of said campus; that there was no money consideration given or received for said deed, and no consideration whatever from the grantee for the land other than the promise to establish and maintain a university, and to use the said land exclusively as a campus therefor, and for all time; that one of the conditions of the conveyance, and a covenant set forth in said bill, was the following: 'First, that the said land shall be used exclusively as a part of the campus of said university, and no buildings shall be erected thereon except those devoted to university purposes. ' It is further alleged that, after the execution of said deed, the defendant the Los Angeles University erected, or caused to be erected, one building on the said campus, and the said building has been used almost continuously for educational purposes and as a dormitory for teachers and pupils, but that there never was established a university, as promised, and according to the terms and conditions of the articles of incorporation of said defendant the Los Angeles University; and there has never been conducted and maintained upon said premises by said defendant, its agents or lessees, more than an academic school for the education of children and students in academic grades and classes, and part of the time only primary schools have been conducted; and for about four years last past a nonsectarian boarding and military school for boys has been conducted by lessees of the said building and campus.It is also alleged that at all times since the conveyance of said land to the grantee, until on or about the 9th day of April, 1900, the whole of said land was used as a campus for such educational institution as was being conducted in the building erected thereupon; that on or about the 9th day of April, 1900, the defendants the College Oil Company and Richard Green, with the consent of, and by reason of and under some agreement, lease, or understanding with, the defendantthe defendant the Los Angeles University, entered upon the south half of said campus, and that part thereof conveyed to defendants by the complainants and J. S. Maltman, with wagons, lumber, tools, and machinery, built a tool house, erected derricks, set up an engine and boiler and oil tanks, and on the 18th day of April, 1900, began, and at the time of filing the bill were, excavating, drilling, and digging the soil of and into said lands, seeking for petroleum there, to the great and irreparable injury of the land for a university campus or a campus for an educational institution; that the defendants intend to and have contracted and arranged for the drilling and digging of large number of oil wells, the erection of a pumping plant and many derricks, oil tanks, pipes, tubing, and other apparatus used in the business of producing and selling crude oil, upon said campus, and will convert said campus into an oil field and a place for conducting an oil business, to the great and irreparable injury and damage of said lands as a campus for a university or an institution of learning and education; that the operations of the defendants interrupt the use and enjoyment of said lands for a campus, and that the complainants have never consented, and do not consent, to such use of said lands by defendants.Upon this bill of complaint, duly verified, the complainants moved for an injunction.An order to show cause was issued, and the defendants appeared and filed affidavits in opposition.It appears from these affidavits that the Los Angeles University was incorporated on the 22d day of June, 1886, for the purpose, as declared in the articles of incorporation, of securing and holding by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, or grant, real and personal property, and of selling, mortgaging, leasing, or otherwise disposing of the same, and of erecting buildings and establishing and maintaining a university for educational purposes.It is admitted that the defendants have commenced the operations described in the bill of complaint, but it is averred, among other things, that in the maintenance of the university a debt of about $16,000 has been incurred and is unpaid; that to secure the payment of such indebtedness the trustees of the university mortgaged all of its property, including the lands described in the bill of complaint; that within two years last past extensive explorations immediately adjacent to and on all sides of said lands has made it plain that the said land is underlaid by a valuable and extensive deposit of oil-bearing sand; that the proposed and begun extraction of oil from said land will not and would not irreparably or at all permanently injure said land for use as a college campus, but that it will enable the defendant the better to carry out the purposes of the donor; that observation of the course of oil operations in the vicinity shows that such operations are not likely to continue on the same ground for a long period; that by the extraction of the oil from the oil sands under the land in question it is proposed, and it will be possible, to pay off this indebtedness, and to release all of the property from the mortgage lien, and to procure valuable additional assets for the maintenance of an educational institution upon the premises; that drill shows that the oil stratum in that region dips slightly to the southward; that experience proves that in oil-bearing strata the crude oil tends to drain towards pumping wells, and especially so if the strata dip in that direction, as in this case, and it is very probable that wells to the southward of the lands in question are continually draining away valuable portions of the oil contained in the strata under the lands described in the bill of complaint; that on the west and northwest, and adjacent to said land, wells have been bored, and are being continuously pumped, and that wells are being bored at a distance of about 80...