Casad

This action involves a dispute regarding the ownership of certain real property in the rural area of Fresno County. The trial court decided that title is in the defendants and cross-complainants, Otis W. Qualls and Stella M. Qualls (hereinafter Qualls), predicated solely upon the res judicata effect of a judgment entered between the predecessors in interest of plaintiff and cross-defendant Helene A. Casad (hereinafter Casad) and of Qualls. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in holding the prior judgment to have conclusive effect on the issues herein.

For ready illustrative reference in following this opinion, the property in dispute is delineated on the simplified diagram in the attached appendix.

The range line established by the United States Government surveys of 1881 and 1919, which are identical, formed a common boundary between Township 10 South, Range 22 East, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian, and Township 10 South, Range 23 East, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian, that line being the western boundary of 10-23 and the eastern boundary of 10-22. The land that was patented to Qualls’ predecessor in 1923 consisted, among other properties, of lot 4,…