Gill

This action was brought by plaintiffs Thomas Edwin Gill and Myla Ritzinger Gill to recover from the Torrens title assurance fund in the custody of the state treasurer the value of certain lands in Imperial County described in the complaint and registered pursuant to the act commonly known as the Torrens Land Transfer Act, under the claim that plaintiffs purchased said land in reliance upon a certificate of title issued by the registrar of titles of Imperial County.

On January 1, 1916, Friend J. Austin and Lettie M. Austin, his wife, were the owners of the land in question. On that day they executed and subsequently delivered to the Delta Land and Water Company, a Nevada corporation, a trust deed thereon to secure payment of $55,000 which they owed that company at that time. The trust deed was recorded in the office of the county recorder of Imperial County on March 30, 1916. On October 2, 1917, said Friend J. Austin and his wife filed in the Superior Court of Imperial County their petition setting forth that said trust deed had been fraudulently obtained by said Delta Land and Water Company, and praying the court to enter its decree to that effect and to order the registrar of…