A Missouri couple brought an action for trespassing under a statute that provides for triple damages for the removal of timber. The petition alleged that the couple owned property, from which others removed timber with the permission of a third party, who possessed the property under a contract for deed. On a motion for judgment on the pleadings, the circuit court assumes that those facts are true, and those facts show that the couple had no standing to bring the statutory action for trespass. That is because the statute, like a common law action for trespass, protects possession, not ownership.
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