Harlan Gas Coal Company v. Hensley

Opinion op the Court by

Judge McCandless

Reversing.

In this action to recover damages for the unlawful extraction of coal from under their premises, plaintiffs recovered a judgment for $3,750. Defendant appeals: Appellees claim ownership by adverse possession under color of title. Their ownership was denied, but no claim of title was set up by defendant.

It is first urged that plaintiffs must recover on the strength of their own title, and, failing to show this, appellant was entitled to a peremptory instruction. As to this the proof shows that in 1908 appellees entered into the actual possession…