 McDaniel sued Vaca for libel and the loss of a land sale.The jury found Vaca guilty of libel, but the California Supreme Court overturned the decision, ruling that Vaca's newspaper warning was something that “every freeman and freeholder would be justified in making if the circumstances raised a strong presumption that the fraud had been attempted upon him to get possession of his estate”.After Vaca and Peña argued over the William McDaniel land sale, Vaca sold his adobe to John Wesley Hill.