Mabry Ogle, Dba Ogle Logging Co. v. United States

At times pertinent here, Ogle was the owner in fee of the south one-fourth of a section of land (160 acres) plus 40 acres immediately adjoining to the east. His area was one and one-quarter miles long and one-fourth mile wide. The United States owned 200 acres contiguous to the north boundary of Ogle and 40 acres contiguous to the east. All was timber land.

The government in 1962 filed a complaint charging Ogle with cutting and removing from its 240 acres during 1951 and 1952 a little less than 1,200,000 board feet of standing timber. It relied on Oregon’s innocent trespass statute, which permits the recovery of double damages.

The trial court found for the government, but charged Ogle with only about two-fifths of the allegedly lost timber. The value was found to be $6,000, which was doubled for the judgment. Ogle appeals, attacking the sufficiency of the evidence. We affirm.

We have examined the entire record. We find that there was strong evidence that the logging on the government land occurred in 1951 and 1952, and also there was conflicting evidence on the point. But there is still the question of who did it.

Ogle was definitely logging on his own property in 1951 and…