Patterson

Plaintiffs sued to quiet title to several separate tracts of land situated in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County. The amended complaint alleged that the plaintiffs had acquired title to their respective holdings through conveyances from the Southern Trust Company, the predecessor in interest of the Security Trust and Savings Bank. It was also alleged that in all the deeds of conveyance to these plaintiffs a reservation was inserted expressly excepting out of the conveyance all minerals and rights in relation thereto, including oil, petroleum, asphaltum, and like substances and the'right to mine, dig, or bore for the same. The theory of the complaint was that the reservation deteriorated the value of the plaintiffs’ holdings and the prayer was that the reservation be declared void and that the defendant be restrained from entering upon the property for any purposes under the reservation. The defendant Security Trust and Savings Bank filed its answer and cross-complaint setting up its title to the minerals and the right to remove them as found in this reservation contained in the deeds of conveyance, and asking for a declaratory judgment in its favor based upon this…