Johnston

Action to recover damages from defendants for the conversion of certain hay.

The plaintiff’s right of action grows out of the following facts: Prior to March 1, 1881, Henry Benson had been for many years the owner of a tract of land in Contra Costa county, which on that day he conveyed to one Jones. In May of the same year Jones conveyed it to the defendants herein. The conveyance from Benson to Jones was procured by the fraud of the latter, and on the 1st of September of that year Benson took possession of the land, claiming it as his own, upon the ground that by reason of the fraud he was entitled to disregard his conveyance, and remained in possession until evicted under a judgment in ejectment by the defendants herein in March, 1883. Shortly after Benson went into possession of the land the defendants herein brought an action of forcible entry against him, which was tried before a jury and a verdict and judgment rendered in his favor November 12, 1881. In April, 1883, this verdict was set aside and a new trial ordered, but no further step was taken in the action until 1887, when the action was dismissed. November O 21, 1881, the defendants commenced an action in ejectment…