Connor v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 25 May 1937
• Docket Number: No. 15566.,15566.
• Citation: 104 Ind.App. 628,8 N.E.2d 422
• Parties: CONNOR et al. v. ANDERSON.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

104 Ind.App. 628

8 N.E.2d 422

CONNOR et al.

v.ANDERSON.

No. 15566.

Appellate Court of Indiana, In Banc.

May 25, 1937.

Appeal from Spencer Circuit Court; Oscar C. Minor, Judge.

Action by Thomas Anderson against Frederick Connor and others, wherein the defendant filed a cross-complaint. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal.

Affirmed.Fred A. Heuring and J. Leslie Stuteville, both of Rockport, for appellants.

L. N. Savage, of Rockport, for appellee.

CURTIS, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in the Spencer circuit court in an action begun by Thomas Anderson seeking to quiet his title to certain lands described in his complaint. The appellants filed a cross-complaint seeking to quiet their title to all the coal, oil, and other minerals in and upon the same tract of land. From a judgment quieting the title to the whole of said real estate in the appellee, the appellants appeal. The complaint and cross-complaint were each answered by general denial.

The issues thus made were submitted to the court for trial, resulting in a finding and judgment quieting the title to the real estate described in the complaint and cross-complaint in the appellee and against the appellants on their cross-complaint.

The appellants filed a motion for a new trial which was overruled, and this appeal followed. The error assigned and relied upon is the ruling on said motion. The causes or grounds of the motion for a new trial are that the decision of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law.

There was no oral testimony offered in the cause. The following stipulation was entered into between the parties.

“It is now stipulated in open court by the plaintiff and defendants, that the plaintiff is the present holder and owner of the title conveyed by Frederick Connor to Elizabeth Lewis in the deed filed as Plaintiff's Exhibit Number '1', and that the plaintiff and his immediate grantees have continuously been in possession of the whole of the real estate described in the plaintiff's complaint uninterruptedly as adverse claimants since the 26th of November, 1866.

“And it is further stipulated by the plaintiff and the defendants and cross-complainants that the cross-complainants are the sole and only heirs of Frederick Connor, deceased, and the owners of any interest in the said land which may have come to them by descent from their ancestor, Frederick Connor.”

In addition to the above stipulation the deed from Frederick Connor to Jasper Lewis was introduced and read in evidence. Omitting formal parts, such as acknowledgment, recording, and entry for taxation, the deed is as follows:

“Frederick Connor conveys and warrants to Elizabeth Lewis, wife of Jasper Lewis for the consideration of four hundred dollars, the following real estate in Spencer County, Indiana, to wit: The South East quarter of the North East be quarter of Section eleven in Township Six South, of Range four West, The said Frederick Connor hereby reserving to himself, his heirs and assigns, one acre of the said tract of land, together with the sole, and exclusive right to mine for coal, oil, and other minerals, in, and upon said tract of land, together with right of ways necessary for the convenient and proper working of any mine or mines he may open in, and upon said tract of land,...