Wood

This action was brought to quiet the title to certain real property in Alameda County. The complaint alleged that William Sidney Wood died testate on January 30, 1908; that his will was admitted to probate in the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, and that plaintiff and Baldwin Wood, now deceased, were duly appointed and qualified as executors thereof; that decedent first named was the owner and in possession of the property in suit, title to which upon his death vested in his heirs and devisees subject to administration, and that there has been no distribution thereof; that pursuant to an order of the superior court in the matter of said estate made on March 20, 1922—which purported to confirm a sale of said property to E. J. Sittig—the said Baldwin Wood, in his own name and that of plaintiff, as executors executed a deed thereof to Sittig; that the order was based upon a return of sale and petition for confirmation; that the proceeding and sale were void for lack of jurisdiction, and the order obtained by means of extrinsic fraud.

Defendants and respondents Roach, Mercantile Securities Co. and Mercantile Trust Co. demurred generally and specifi cally to the…