Oliver

The appellant is one of several hundred defendants in an action brought by the City of Los Angeles for the purpose of condemning some 370 separate parcels of land, one of which is owned by him, for the widening of existing streets and the opening of new streets in that city. The proceedings were taken and the action instituted under the provisions of the Street Opening Act of 1903 (Stats. 1903, p. 376, and acts amendatory thereof). Appellant makes no complaint as to the regularity or validity of any of the proceedings prior to the commencement of the action. His appeal is from the interlocutory judgment of condemnation therein.

Inasmuch as several of the numerous points on which appellant relies for a reversal relate to and involve the time at which certain of the various steps in the action were taken, it may be well at the outset to give a chronological history of the case in so far at least as is material to the questions presented for our determination.

Complaint was filed and summons issued August 6, 1926; appellant’s answer was filed December 7, 1926, and the order appointing referees and setting the case for trial as to those defendants who had demanded jury trials was…