Lobato v. Taylor

Facts

In 1848, the United States and Mexico entered into the Treaty of of Guadalupe Hidalgo whereby Mexico ceded land to the United States including California, Nevada, Utah; most of New Mexico and Arizona; and a portion of Colorado. Carlos Beaubien owned land in Colorado that was part of the Sangre de Cristo grant. In the 1850s, Beaubien recruited farm families to settle portions of the land allotting vara strips to families and leaving areas open for common use. After cessation, the United States agreed to honor existing property rights in the ceded land and, in 1860, Congress confirmed Beaubien’s claim to the Sangre de Cristo grant. In 1863, Beaubien gave established settlers deeds to the vara strips and executed the “Beaubien Document” granting rights of access to common lands and guaranteeing rights to “enjoyment of benefits of pastures, water, firewood and timber.” Beaubien died a year later, and his heirs sold the land to William Gilpin via a prior oral agreement. In 1960, Jack Taylor purchased approximately 77,000 acres of the Sangre de Cristo grant from William Gilpin’s successor in interest. The deed indicated the land was subject to “claims of the local people by prescription or otherwise to right to pasture, wood, and lumber and so-called settlement rights in, to, and upon the land.” Taylor, however, denied the landowner’s access to the Taylor Ranch and fenced the property.