Bowie v. Herring

• Citation: 89 N.W. 976,116 Iowa 209
• Parties: BOWIE v. HERRING.
• Decision Date: 09 April 1902
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

116 Iowa 209

89 N.W. 976

BOWIE

v.HERRING.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 9, 1902.

Appeal from district court, Harrison county; G. W. Wakefield, Judge.

Action to recover for use of land claimed by plaintiff, and alleged to have been wrongfully occupied by defendant. Trial to the court without a jury, and judgment for plaintiff, from which defendant appeals. Reversed.L. R. Bolter & Sons, for appellant.

S. H. Cochran, for appellee.

McCLAIN, J.

In the absence of any findings of law or of fact, the only question which is really before us is whether there was any evidence to support the judgment. In 1874 the county of Harrison, by action of its supervisors, purported to convey, as a part of the swamp-land grant, to one Wilbur, lot 12 in section 11, township 80, range 45, in that county, and later in the same year said Wilbur purported to convey to plaintiff by the same description; and plaintiff has recently, before the bringing of this suit, attempted to convey by the same description to another. But the suit relates to the time during which plaintiff appeared to be, and, so far as we see, was, the owner of whatever land was covered by the deed to her; and therefore the contention of appellant that she is not the real party in interest is not well founded, for after conveying she undoubtedly had the right to recover any compensation to which she was entitled before the conveyance for the wrongful occupancy of her land by the defendant, if he had so occupied it. Defendant has for many years been the owner of lots 5 and 6 in the same section, which originally bordered on the west side of what is known as “Dry Lake.” For some years prior to 1895 he seems to have occupied land to the east of lots 5 and 6, in the bed of the lake; and in that year he received a swamp-land deed from the county for a tract of land described as “Lot 16” in said section, which included a portion of the bed of the lake lying east of and adjoining his lots, and previously occupied by him. The land claimed by defendant under his swamp-land deed as lot 16, and which he claims to have previously occupied, is a part of the land which plaintiff claims to have acquired by her deed to lot 12. For defendant it is contended, however, that plaintiff never acquired any title by the conveyance of lot 12, because it does not appear that there ever was any lot passing by that description, and that, even if there was such a lot, it does not appear that the description covered the...