McDaniel

The respondents brought this action to set aside a quiet title judgment obtained by appellant, which judgment determined that appellant was the owner of two parcels of real property. The court set aside appellant’s former judgment and determined that it was not binding upon respondents.

There was evidence that in 1915 Mabrey McMahan was the owner of a large tract of land, of which the two parcels here in dispute formed a part. McMahan had an ambitious scheme for development of the area, and in pursuit thereof improved his lands, dredged channels and moved in buildings from the 1915 World’s Fair. The development did not rise to his expectations however, and after McMahan’s death in 1957 his heirs deeded the two parcels here in controversy to appellant McDaniel.

The respondents are farmers and dairymen. They have a substantial ownership of land in the immediate vicinity of the lands formerly owned by McMahan. One of the parcels of land here involved is entirely surrounded by lands of respondents, and the other is also encompassed by lands of the respondents except for that portion of the second parcel which borders on the south fork of the Gallinas Canal.

Respondents’…