United States v. Clarke

• Citation: 445 U.S. 253,100 S.Ct. 1127,63 L.Ed.2d 373
• Decision Date: 18 March 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-1693,78-1693
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner, v. Glen M. CLARKE et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

445 U.S. 253

100 S.Ct. 1127

63 L.Ed.2d 373

UNITED STATES, Petitioner,

v Glen M. CLARKE et al.

No. 78-1693.

Argued Jan. 15, 16, 1980.

Decided March 18, 1980.

Syllabus

Held : Title 25 U.S.C. § 357, which provides that lands allotted in severalty to Indians may be "condemned" for any public purpose under the laws of the State or Territory where located, does not authorize a state or local government to "condemn" allotted Indian trust lands by physical occupation. Under the "plain meaning" canon of statutory construction, the term "condemned" in § 357 refers to a formal condemnation proceeding instituted by the condemning authority for the purpose of acquiring title to private property and paying just compensation for it, not to an "inverse condemnation" action by a landowner to recover compensation for a taking by physical intrusion. Thus, the Court of Appeals erred in holding that § 357 permitted acquisition of allotted lands by inverse condemnation by certain cities in Alaska, even though Alaska law might allow the exercise of the power of eminent domain through inverse condemnation. Pp. 254-259.

9 Cir., 590 F.2d 765, reversed.

Harlon L. Dalton, for petitioner.

Robert S. Pelcyger, Boulder, Colo., for respondent Tabbytite supporting petitioner.

Richard A. Weinig, Anchorage, Alaska, for respondents Municipality of Anchorage, et al.

Mr. Justice REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.

We granted the petition for certiorari of the United States in this case, 444 U.S. 822, 100 S.Ct. 41, 62 L.Ed.2d 28, to decide the question "[w]hether 25 U.S.C. [§] 357 authorizes a state or local government to 'condemn' allotted Indian trust lands by physical occupation." Pet. for Cert. 2. That statute, in turn, provides in pertinent part:

"[L]ands allotted in severalty to Indians may be condemned for any public purpose under the laws of the State or Territory where located in the same manner as land owned in fee may be condemned, and the money awarded as damages shall be paid to the allottee." 31 Stat. 1084.

We think this is a case in which the meaning of a statute may be determined by the admittedly old-fashioned but nonetheless still entirely appropriate "plain meaning" canon of statutory construction. We further believe that the word "condemned," at least as it was commonly used in 1901, when 25 U.S.C. § 357 was enacted, had reference to a judicial proceeding instituted for the purpose of acquiring title to private property and paying just compensation for it.

Both the factual and legal background of the case are complicated, but these complications lose their significance under our interpretation of § 357. For it is conceded that neither the city of Glen Alps nor the city of Anchorage, both Alaska municipal corporations, ever brought an action to condemn the lands here in question in federal court as required by Minnesota v. United States, 305 U.S. 382, 59 S.Ct. 292, 83 L.Ed. 235 (1939). And since we hold that only in such a formal judicial proceeding may lands such as this be acquired, the complex factual and legal history of the dispute between the Government, respondents Glen M. Clarke et al., and respondent Bertha Mae Tabbytite need not be recited in detail.¹

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that § 357 permits acquisition of allotted lands by what has come to be known as "inverse condemnation." 590 F.2d 765 (1979. In so holding, the court reasoned that "once the taking has been accomplished by the state it serves little purpose to interpret the statute to refuse to permit an inverse condemnation suit to be maintained on the groun[d] that the state should have filed an eminent domain action prior to the taking." Id., at 767. We disagree with the Court of Appeals and accordingly reverse the judgment.

There are important legal and practical differences between an inverse condemnation suit and a condemnation proceeding. Although a landowner's action to recover just compensation for a taking by physical intrusion has come to be referred to as "inverse" or "reverse" condemnation, the simple terms "condemn" and "condemnation" are not commonly used to describe such an action. Rather, a "condemnation" proceeding is commonly understood to be an action brought by a condemning authority such as the Government in the exercise of its power of eminent domain. In United States v. Lynah, 188 U.S. 445, 23 S.Ct. 349, 47 L.Ed. 539 (1903), for example, which held that the Federal Government's permanent flooding of the plaintiff's land constituted a compensable "taking" under the Fifth Amendment, this Court consistently made separate reference to condemnation proceedings and to the landowner's cause of action to recover damages for the taking. Id., at 462, 467, 468, 23 S.Ct., at 353, 355, 356.²

More recent decisions of this Court reaffirm this well-established distinction between condemnation actions and physical takings by governmental bodies that may entitle a landowner to sue for compensation. Thus, in Ivanhoe Irrigation District v. McCracken, 357 U.S. 275, 291, 78 S.Ct. 1174, 1183, 2 L.Ed.2d 1313 (1958), when discussing the acquisition by the Government of property rights necessary to carry out a reclamation project, this Court stated that such rights must be acquired by "paying just compensation therefor, either through condemnation or, if already taken, through action of the owners in the courts." And in United States v. Dickinson, 331 U.S. 745, 749, 67 S.Ct. 1382, 1385, 91 L.Ed. 1789 (1947), this Court referred to the Government's choice "not to condemn land but to bring about a taking by a continuous process of physical events." See also id., at 747-748, 67 S.Ct., at 1384; Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609, 619, 83 S.Ct. 999, 1005, 10 L.Ed.2d 15 (1963).³

The phrase "inverse condemnation" appears to be one that was coined simply as a shorthand description of the manner in which a landowner recovers just compensation for a taking of his property when condemnation proceedings have not been instituted. As defined by one land use planning expert, "[i]nverse condemnation is 'a cause of action against a governmental defendant to recover the value of property which has been taken in fact by the governmental defendant, even though no formal exercise of the power of eminent domain has been attempted by the taking agency.' " D. Hagman, Urban Planning and Land Development Control Law 328 (1971) (emphasis added). A landowner is entitled to bring such an action as a result of "the self-executing character of the constitutional provision with respect to compensation. . . ." See 6 P. Nichols, Eminent Domain § 25.41 (3d rev.ed.1972). A condemnation proceeding, by contrast, typically involves an action by the condemnor to effect a taking and acquire title. The phrase "inverse condemnation," as a common understanding of that phrase would suggest, simply describes an action that is the "inverse" or "reverse" of a condemnation proceeding.

There are also important practical differences between condemnation proceedings and actions by landowners to recover compensation for "inverse condemnation." Condemnation proceedings, depending on the applicable statute, require various affirmative action on the part of the condemning authority. To accomplish a taking by seizure, on the other hand, a condemning authority need only occupy the land in question. Such a taking thus shifts to the landowner the burden to discover the encroachment and to take affirmative action to recover just compensation. And in the case of Indian trust lands, which present the Government " 'with an almost staggering problem in attempting to discharge its trust obligations with respect to thousands upon thousands of scattered Indian allotments,' " Poafpybitty v. Skelly Oil Co., 390 U.S. 365, 374, 88 S.Ct. 982, 986, 19 L.Ed.2d 1238 (1968), the United States may be placed at a significant disadvantage by this shifting of the initiative from the condemning authority to the condemnee.

Likewise, the choice of the condemning authority to take property by physical invasion rather than by a formal condemnation action may also have important monetary consequences. The value of property taken by a governmental body is to be ascertained as of the date of taking. United States v. Miller, 317 U.S. 369, 374, 63 S.Ct. 276, 280, 87 L.Ed. 336 (1943). In a condemnation proceeding, the taking generally occurs sometime during the course of the proceeding, and thus compensation is based on a relatively current valuation of the land. See 1 L. Orgel, Valuation in Eminent Domain § 21, n.29 (2d ed. 1953). When a taking occurs by physical invasion, on the other hand, the usual rule is that the time of the invasion constitutes the act of taking, and "[i]t is that event which gives rise to the claim for compensation and fixes the date as of which the land is to be valued . . . ." United States v. Dow, 357 U.S. 17, 22, 78 S.Ct. 1039, 1044, 2 L.Ed.2d 1109 (1958).

Thus, even assuming that the term "inverse condemnation" were in use in 1901 to the same extent as it is today, there are sufficient legal and practical differences between "condemnation" and "inverse condemnation" to convince us that when § 357 authorizes the condemnation of lands pursuant to the laws of a State or Territory, the term "condemned" refers not to an action by a landowner to recover compensation for a taking, but to a formal condemnation proceeding instituted by the condemning authority.⁴

Respondent municipality of Anchorage argues that the action authorized by the Court of Appeals here should be regarded as one in condemnation because Alaska law allows the "exercise of the power of eminent domain through inverse condemnation or a taking in the nature of inverse condemnation." Brief for Respondent Municipality of Anchorage 16. But we do not reach questions of Alaska law here because 25 U.S.C. § 357, although prescribing that allotted lands "may be condemned for any public purpose under the laws of the State or...