Lachner v. Swanson

SPAETH, Judge:

Appellants, Carl and Genevieve Lachner, sued appellee, Carl Swanson, in ejectment. The jury found for the Lachners. The lower court, however, granted Swanson’s motion for judgment n. o. v. on the ground that as a matter of law Swanson had proved a mutual mistake.

The following diagram (not to scale but prepared by this court from the surveyor’s plan in the record) may prove useful.

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In 1959 Swanson’s sister, Edla Swanson Niklas, conveyed to him the “Gilfoyle School Lot” (Diagram: ABCD), on which was an old schoolhouse (Diagram: shaded area). This lot was 165 feet…