Roeder Co. v. Burlington Northern, Inc.

This is a consolidated quiet title action 1 involving the interests of Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad Company (BB & BC) in two strips of land in Bellingham: an 80-foot strip reserved by the BB & BC on an 1889 plat map and included in a 1905 quitclaim deed, and a 50-foot strip included only in the 1905 quitclaim deed. The plaintiff-appellant, Roeder Company (Roeder), and the defendants-respondents 2 trace their claims back through different chains of title to a common grantor, BB & BC. We affirm the trial court and hold that BB & BC retained a fee interest in the 80-foot strip by…