Becker v. McGraw

• Decision Date: 15 December 1900
• Citation: 37 S.E. 532,48 W.Va. 539
• Parties: BECKER et al. v. McGRAW.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

37 S.E. 532

48 W.Va. 539

BECKER et al. v. McGRAW.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

December 15, 1900

Syllabus by the Court.

1. A court of equity has no jurisdiction to settle the title and boundaries of land when the plaintiff has no equity against the party who is holding the land.

2. To warrant the interference of a court of equity to restrain a trespass on land, two conditions must co-exist: First, the plaintiff's title must be undisputed, or established by legal adjudication; and, secondly, the injury complained of must be irreparable in its nature, unless there exist other grounds of equity.

3. It is not sufficient that the bill contains general allegations of irreparable injury; the facts constituting such injury must be set forth.

Appeal from circuit court, Jefferson county; E. Boyd Faulkner Judge.

Bill by Charles and Louis Becker against James C. McGraw. Decree for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

McDonald & Beckwith, for appellants.

Mason & Mason, for appellee.

ENGLISH J.

This is a suit in equity, brought in the circuit court of Jefferson county by Charles and Louis Becker against James C. McGraw, in which the plaintiffs claim to be the owners of 833 acres of land located on the Blue Ridge Mountain, near Harper's Ferry, on which tract there is a valuable spring of soft water. They allege that without any authority from them, the defendant McGraw has taken possession of said spring, and, without any right thereto, is draining the water from it, and appropriating the same to his own use; that the spring constitutes the principal value of the land, and that their damage by reason of the unauthorized and unlawful acts of the defendant are irreparable; and they pray that the defendant may be enjoined from further diverting said spring and its waters. The defendant demurred to plaintiffs' bill. The demurrer was overruled, and thereupon the defendant filed his answer denying that the plaintiffs were the owners of the land on which said spring is located, or that they were in possession of it, or of the land through which the stream from said spring flows, or that they have derived title to said land from the state of West Virginia by its sale for the nonpayment of taxes; but alleging that the land has been in the continual, adverse, exclusive, notorious possession of himself and those under whom he claims for a period of perhaps over 75 years; and he proceeds to name the parties through whom he derived title. This answer was replied to, proof taken, and the court, on hearing the cause, dismissed the plaintiffs' bill, from which action of the court this appeal was obtained.

Did the court err in dismissing the bill in this case? It is apparent that the title to the land containing the spring is disputed. The plaintiffs claim that the defendant has committed a trespass on their land by collecting and conducting away the water from their spring, and the record discloses that there is a controversy in regard to the boundary of the plaintiffs' land and that of the defendant in the neighborhood of the spring. The bill contains no allegation that the defendant is insolvent, and, while it claims that the damage resulting from the trespass will be irreparable,...