In the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles
State of California

Juan M. Luco
Plaintiff

Vs.

Robert S. Baker
Defendant

SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

And now comes the above named plaintiff, and by order of court first had obtained, serves and files this, his second amended complaint. The plaintiff complains of the above named defendant and for cause of action alleges:

I.
That the California Star Oil Works Company is a corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of California, and has its office and principal place of business in the City of and County of San Francisco in said state of California, and has been such corporation since the 7th day of July, 1876.

II.
That on or about the 8th day of August, 1865, Pio Pico, Robert S. Baker, Edward F. Beale, Sanford Lyon, Juan Foster and Francis P. Foster discovered, located and claimed for mining purposes, a certain tract of land of about 160 acres, yielding petroleum or other mineral oils, situate, lying and being in the San Fernando Petroleum Mining District, in the County of Los Angeles, and State of California; that the notice of said location was duly recorded in the Recorder’s Office of the said San Fernando Petroleum Mining District, on the 7th day of February, 1866, copy of which is hereto attached and made a part hereof, marked “Plaintiff’s Exhibit A”; that the said persons so locating said mine immediately thereafter took possession of the said mining claim and worked the same in accordance with the local mining laws of said District and of the mining laws of the United States; and they, and their successors, grantees and assigns, have ever since owned and possessed the same; that the said location and mining claim was generally known as the “Pico Oil Springs Mine.”

III.
That on or about and during the months of March and April, 1877, the said R. S. Baker represented to the said Pio Pico, that their interest in the said Oil Springs Mining Claim could be managed, controlled and used to their mutual advantage more successfully, if the title to the same was held by one person, and then requested of the said Pico, that he convey to him (Baker) his interest in the said Pico Oil Springs Claim, and promised to the said Pico, if he would so convey, he (Baker) would bestow the same care and attention on the interest so conveyed to him, as upon his own interest, and would make return to him of all the profits and proceeds arising from the working, use or other disposition of the interest so conveyed to him, and to which the said Pico assented; and thereupon, on or about the 21st day of May, 1877, in pursuance of said understanding and agreement the said Pio Pico conveyed to the said R. S. Baker, on of the defendants herein, by a deed of grant, bargain and sale, all his right, title and interest, of and to the said Pico Oil Springs Claim, and the same was duly acknowledged and recorded, copy of which is hereto attached and made a part hereof, marked “Plaintiff’s Exhibit B”. That the said conveyance was made by the said Pio Pico to the said R. S. Baker without any consideration, but nevertheless, in trust that the same be held by the said Baker to the use, benefit and behoof of the said Pico.

IV.
That simultaneously with the execution and delivery of the said deed, made in trust as aforesaid, the said Robert S. Baker made, executed, acknowledged and delivered to the said Pio Pico, a declaration of trust, wherein and whereby the covenanted and agreed to and with the said Pico that he would bestow the same care and attention upon the interest of the said Pico so conveyed to him as aforesaid, as he did upon his own interest in the said Oil Springs Claim, and that out of the profits and proceeds arising from the use, working or other disposition of the said Pico Oil Springs Mine, he would pay over to the said Pico his proportionate share of whatever might be realized therefrom. That a copy of said declaration of trust is hereto attached and made a part hereof, and is marked “Plff’s Ex. C”.

That soon after the execution of said deed and declaration of trust as aforesaid, it was discovered that a clerical error existed in the said deed from said Pico to said Baker, in this; that the grantee was written “the party of the first part” instead of “the party of the second part”, as it had been intended, and for the purpose of correcting said error, and in order that the title and record thereof might stand as it had been intended, the said Pio Pico, on the 14th day of June, 1877, at the request of said Baker, made a deed of conveyance of the same property described in his deed of May 21st, 1877, to R. S. Baker, the same grantee as in the previous deed as aforesaid, without any consideration whatever, the two deeds being identical in the parties in the property conveyed, and in form, except that in the last deed, the said clerical error had been corrected; that the said deed was duly acknowledged, and on the 16th day of June, 1877, was duly recorded in the County Recorder’s office of Los Angeles County, in Liber 54 of Deeds, at page 430, a copy of which deed is hereto attached and made part hereof, marked “Plff’s Ex. D”: That under and by virtue of the mining laws of the United States, the said R. S. Baker and others, his associates, interested in the said Pico Oil Springs Mine, the grantees of the original locators and claimants of said claim, procured to be issued and there was issued to them, the U. S. Patent for the said Pico Oil Springs Mine, dated the 14th day of September, 1880, and the same was recorded in the County Recorder’s office of Los Angeles County, in said state, in Book of Patents No. 3, at page 224; that the premises surveyed and patented by the United States as aforesaid, are the same that were claimed and located as aforesaid, and known as the Pico Oil Springs Mine; That afterwards, and on or about the said 15th day of August, 1882, the said R. S. Baker, and his co-tenants conveyed by deed of that date the entire Pico Oil Springs Mine as the same was patented as aforesaid to the said California Star Oil Works Company by a grant, bargain and sale deed for the consideration (as expressed in said deed) of Five Dollars, which deed was duly acknowledged on the same day and recorded in the County Recorder’s office of Los Angeles County, in Book 103 of Deeds at page 253.

That the consideration expressed in said deed was untrue and did not express the true consideration therefor, and was fraudulent and deceptive, and was intended to, and did deceive the said Pico; but in truth and in fact as plaintiff is informed and believes, and so charges, that on the same day or soon thereafter, the said company delivered to the said Baker and his co-grantor in said deed, $150,000 in cash, and a large number of shares of the capital stock of said company, to wit: a fraction less than one half of its capital stock, as the consideration for the said conveyance. That since the conveyance to the said California Star Oil Company and the receipt by the said R. S. Baker of the shares of the stock of the said company, as aforesaid, the said R. S. Baker has received monthly dividends upon each share of stock so held by him, amounting in the aggregate to a large sum of money, the exact amount of which is unknown to plaintiff, and cannot be ascertained by him unless by reference to and examination of the books and papers of said company. That the said Pio Pico, on the 9th day of March, 1886, by an instrument in writing, for a valuable consideration, duly sold, assigned and transferred all his right, title and interest, of in or to or arising under or by virtue of said declaration of trust of, in and to the said Pico Oil Springs Mine, and the proceeds thereof, then due and belonging to him, to Juan M. Luco, the plaintiff herein.

Wherefore plaintiff prays that by the decree of this court, it be ordered that the said defendant R. S. Baker render a full, true and correct account of all the products and proceeds growing out of and arising from or in any manner accruing from the interest in said mining claim conveyed to defendant by said Pio Pico as aforesaid and particularly of all dividends declared, and paid by the said company upon its capital stock to the said defendant R. S. Baker since its incorporation upon the stock of said company, issued to him for the conveyance of the interest of the said Pio Pico in the said mining claim, and that plaintiff have judgment for the same.

And also, that said defendant R. S. Baker assign, set over and deliver up to plaintiff, all the capital stock of the said California Star Oil Works Company issued and delivered to him in payment for and as a consideration for the conveyance to the said company, of the interest, share and proportion of the said Pio Pico, of, in and to the said Pico Oil Springs Mining Claim, and that plaintiff have such other or further relief as justice and equity require.

I. N. Thorne
Attorney for Plaintiff

October 24, 1888