Stottlemyer v. Kline

• Decision Date: 20 November 1969
• Docket Number: No. 8,8
• Citation: 259 A.2d 52,255 Md. 635
• Parties: Austin STOTTLEMYER et ux., v. Eugene B. KLINE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 635

255 Md. 635

259 A.2d 52

Austin STOTTLEMYER et ux., v. Eugene B. KLINE.

No. 8.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Nov. 20, 1969.

Vincent R. Groh and John S. Hollyday, Hagerstown, for appellants.

Howard W. Gilbert, Jr. and Ralph H. France, II, Hagerstown (Ottinger, Mackley & Gilbert, Hagerstown, on the brief), for appellee.

Before HAMMOND, C. J., and BARNES, McWILLIAMS, SINGLEY and SMITH, JJ.

BARNES, Judge.

This appeal presents us with the question of whether or not the Circuit Court for Washington County (Naughton, J.) was in error in deciding, in an action of trespass quare clausum fregit, that Melvin L. Draper and Abbie Jean Draper, his wife, the grantors of the appellee Eugene B. Kline, the plaintiff below, had title to an eight and one-half acre tract of land on the northerly and westerly side of Antietam Creek in Washington County.

For a better understanding of the somewhat complicated facts in the case, the Court has prepared a plat showing the disputed land and other relevant data.

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

The appellee Kline, beginning in 1964, rented the eight and one-half acres of land in question, which lies generally on the northerly and westerly side of Antietam Creek, approximately one-fourth of a mile from the junction of the creek with the Potomac River, from Melvin L. Draper and wife. The Drapers acquired the 61 acre farm, which they claim includes the land in question, by virtue of a deed dated August 13, 1962, and duly recorded, from Omer T. Kaylor, Jr., Committee of William G. Tucker Incompetent, which conveyed to the Drapers:

"* * * all that tract of land, together with the improvements thereon, and all the rights and easements thereunto belonging, lying at the junction of the Antietam Creek with the Potomac River, in Washington County, Maryland, containing 61 acres of land, more or less, of good aerable land whereon a large frame flour mill was situate at the Antietam Iron Works at the Antietam Creek."

This deed recited that the 61 acre parcel was a portion of a larger tract known as Tract No. 220 of the Antietam Iron Works originally containing over 1,000 acres. By tracing the chain of title of the Drapers back to 1855, the surveyors were able to obtain a metes and bounds description for the boundary line between the Draper land and that of the Stottlemyers as hereinafter set forth. The appellants, the Stottlemyers, own the 10 1/2 acre tract, marked Parcel 2 on the attached plat which lies to the north and west of the land in dispute.

The present case involved the second cause of action in trespass quare clausum fregit adjudicated between the parties in regard to the ownership and the right to possession of the land in dispute. In 1964, the Stottlemyers filed an action of trespass q. c. f. in the Circuit Court for Washington County (the first case) against the Drapers, the appellee Kline and Julia L. Kline, his wife, and others, to recover damages for their alleged trespass to the disputed land. Much testimony was taken and several documentary exhibits were introduced into evidence. The first case was tried before Judge Hamill, without a jury. Judge Hamill rendered an opinion and verdict for the defendants on January 19, 1965. From a judgment for costs for the defendants, the Stottlemyers appealed to this Court, but latter dismissed this appeal so that the judgment in the first case became final. Because the appellee relies on res judicata in establishing certain issues in the present case, it is necessary to set forth substantial portions of Judge Hamill's opinion and verdict in the first case, as follows:

'The question which the Court is called upon to decide in this case, which is an action in trespass, is whether or not the Plaintiffs have title to the property on which the alleged trespass occurred and whether or not the Defendants trespassed on said property.

'It is undisputed that the Plaintiffs have title to a ten and one-half acre tract of land which was carved by mesne conveyances out of a larger tract known as 'Antietam Iron Works' situate in Washington County, Maryland; and it is likewise undisputed that the Defendants have asserted possessory rights, to the extent of planting crops hereon, upon a small parcel of land consisting of approximately three acres in the aforesaid tract of land known as 'Antietam Iron Works,' being part of or adjoining the southeastern portion of said ten and one-half acre tract. The aforesaid three acres was referred to throughout the trial as 'The Bottom Land,' and is the land involved in this proceeding.

'The testimony in this case was lengthy and the exhibits voluminous, including maps, plats, land records, aerial photographs, transparent overlays and surveys. A large amount of testimony was by Land Engineers and Surveyors.

'In an action in trespass it is incumbent upon the Plaintiffs to prove title to the property in question by a preponderance of the evidence on which the alleged trespass occurred, and the Defendant need not be required to prove any title either in himself or a third party.

'The question here is the location of the plaintiffs' boundary at the southeastern portion of their said ten and one-half acre tract. After a thorough review of all of the testimony and the evidence adduced by the exhibits, particularly the plats, overlays and the testimony of the Engineers, I am of the opinion that the Plaintiffs have not proved legal title by a preponderance of the evidence over the disputed three acres of land, more or less. Without passing on the title to said three acres, more or less, I think it suffices to say that certain land exists between the Stottlemyers' southeastern boundary and the Antietam Creek as shown particularly by the transparent overlay on the aerial photographs and by the metes and bounds description and survey of the plaintiffs' land. There was testimony and evidence to the effect that many years ago a dam existed at the southeastern portion of the plaintiffs' ten and one-half acre tract which said dam is now non-existent and which could certainly account for additional land. The fact that an actual survey of the Plaintiffs' land reveals that they own more than the ten and one-half acres called for in their Deed is immaterial and irrelevant since it does not in any way change or affect the boundary lines of said ten and one-half acre tract; nor is there sufficient evidence in this case to prove ownership of the disputed three acre tract adjoining said ten and one-half acre tract, over which the alleged trespass occurred, by adverse possession.'

As already noted Judge Hamill entered a verdict for the defendants for costs upon which a judgment was duly entered.

In the spring of 1966, Kline, who is the father of Mrs. Draper, having leased the land in dispute from the Drapers, planted approximately three and one-half acres of the disputed land in corn, at a cost to him of $10.00 for seed and $149.75 for labor and equipment. On July 3, 1966, when the corn was between three and four feet in height, a number of cows owned by the Stottlemyers came upon the disputed land and destroyed the corn crop which had been planted by Kline in the spring of 1966. The cows came down from a pasture owned by the Stottlemyers located upstream from the corn field and through a natural opening between the creek and a steep cliff. This opening was on part of the disputed land and at one time had been fenced, but the fence had been removed by some unidentified person. The cows continued to come into the corn field subsequent to July 3 and although Kline was aware of their presence, he made no effort to drive them out or to replace the 20 to 40 feet of fencing necessary to close the opening through which the cows entered the corn field.

Kline filed an action on July 7, 1966, in the Magistrates' Court for Washington County against the Stottlemyers, claiming damages of $150.00, this claim being later amended on July 18, 1966, to $650.00 to cover damages allegedly suffered sicne the institution of the action. The Stottlemyers, claiming title to the disputed land, notified the Magistrate to that effect by affidavit and the Magistrate quite properly in accordance with Code (1957), Art. 52, Sec. 9 refused to take further cognizance of the action. He sent it to the Circuit Court for Washington County for trial. The lower court and the parties treated this action as an action of trespass quare clausum fregit; and we will so consider it notwithstanding some informality in the pleadings in the Magistrates' Court. At the trial of the present case, the entire file in the first case was introduced into evidence by the plaintiff Kline and in addition there was considerable testimony principally directed at the question of adverse possession. There was also introduced into evidence certain additional documentary evidence and Ralph H. Donnelly, a civil engineer and surveyor, testified for the Stottlemyers in the present case.

At the end of the case presented by the plaintiff Kline, the Stottlemyers made a motion for a directed verdict in their favor, which was denied by the lower court. At the end of the entire case, Judge Naughton, before whom the present case was tried without a jury, stated:

'BY THE COURT: Well, I feel, perhaps I will need the testimony of the Civil Engineer in the previous case, and I may be very frank with you, it will boil down probably to which Civil Engineer is correct. If I find they are both correct, of course, that will end the case, but I can't decide anything today, so I will ask, instead of writing all the testimony in that case, there is too much there, I believe all I would want would be the Civil Engineer's testimony.'

Thereafter, Judge Naughton gave the following opinion and verdict:

'The Court sitting as a jury finds that the Plaintiff, Eugene B. Kline, leased from Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Draper, a strip of land lying along Antietam Creek in Washington County,...