Albert Shulthis v. Dougal No 156 George Franklin Berryhill v. Albert Shulthis No 157

Decision Date07 June 1912
Docket NumberNos. 156,157,s. 156
Citation225 U.S. 561,56 L.Ed. 1205,32 S.Ct. 704
PartiesALBERT W. SHULTHIS, Appt., v. D. A. McDOUGAL et al. NO 156. GEORGE FRANKLIN BERRYHILL, Appt., v. ALBERT W. SHULTHIS et al. NO 157
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

[Syllabus from pages 561-563 intentionally omitted] Messrs. C. L. Thomas and Edgar A. de Meules for Shulthis.

Mr. James P. Harrold for Berryhill.

Messrs. George S. Ramsey and Preston C. West for appellees.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 563-565 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Van Devanter delivered the opinion of the court:

These are appeals from decrees of the circuit court of appeals for the eighth circuit, affirming a decree of the circuit court for the eastern district of Oklahoma, dismissing on the merits a bill in equity, as also a petition in intervention, brought to determine conflicting claims to a tract of allotted land in the Creek Nation. The allegations of the bill may be summarized as follows:

The complainant, Shulthis, is a citizen of Kansas. One of the defendants, the Kiefer Oil & Gas Company, is a corporation organized in the Indian territory under the Arkansas statutes which were put in force therein by an act of Congress, and since the admission of Oklahoma as a state 'has been and now is a citizen and resident of said state' and of the eastern district thereof. The other defendants are citizens of that state, resident in that district. The intervener, George Franklin Berryhill, is a member by blood of the Creek Nation, duly enrolled as such, and his wife is not a member.

A son, named Andrew J. Berryhill, was born to the intervener and his wife in May, 1901, and died in November following, leaving no brother or sister surviving. In October, 1902, the deceased son's name was placed on the roll of the Creek Nation by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and thereafter an allotment, including the tract in controversy, was made to his 'heirs' from the lands of the Nation, and a deed or patent was issued to such heirs with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Subsequently, and in March, 1906, George Franklin Berryhill and his wife, claiming to be the sole heirs of Andrew J., and the owners in fee of this tract, executed to the complainant a lease thereof, granting to him the right to explore for and extract oil and gas from the land for the term of fifteen years. The lease was made conformably to regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, was filed with the United States Indian agent at Muskogee, in the Indian territory, March 21, 1906, and was approved by the Secretary of the Interior April 19, 1907. The complainant complied with the regulations, duly paid the advance royalty provided for in the lease, and claims the sole and exclusive right to prospect for and extract the deposits of oil and gas existing in and under the land, which are said to be extensive and to have a value many times in excess of $2,000. Respecting the claims and acts of the defendants the bill alleges:

'Your orator further shows that the defendants and each of them claim and assert some right, title, and interests in and to said lands, and particularly to the said oil and natural gas deposits, adverse to your orator, but the nature of said claims of said defendants is to your orator unknown; but your orator states that they have no such right, titie, or interest in the said deposits of oil and natural gas or any part thereof; that whatever claimed rights the said defendants or any of them have therein were acquired long subsequent to the right of your orator, hereinbefore set forth; and further, were acquired with notice and knowledge of the lease to your orator so executed, filed, and approved as aforesaid; and also of facts and circumstances sufficient to put them and each of them upon inquiry with reference thereto.

'Your orator further states that the said defendant Kiefer Oil & Gas Company, combining and confederating with the other defendants named herein, have disregarded and still disregard the rights of your orator, and in violation thereof, and without right, unlawfully and wilfully, on or about the 1st day of April, 1907, entered upon the said above-described lands, and have stationed thereon divers agents, servants, and employees, whose names are to your orator unknown, and with force and arms exclude and have excluded your orator and his agents, servants, and employees therefrom; and further, that said defendants have bored and drilled oil and gas wells on said premises, and have and still are allowing large quantities of oil and natural gas to escape therefrom and be wasted. That by reason thereof your orator has been damaged in the sum of $25,000. And further, said defendants threaten to, and will, unless restrained by this court, drill other and further wells on said land for oil and natural gas, and have and are threatening to, and will, unless restrained, by means of such wells, extract said oil and gas deposits from said land, and convert the same to their own use and benefit against the manifest right of your orator.'

The prayer of the bill is that the defendants be decreed to have no interest or estate in the deposits of oil and gas, save as any defendant may have an interest in the land and be thereby entitled to the royalties secured by the lease; that the cloud cast upon the complainant's title and rights under the lease by the claims of the defendants be removed and his title and rights thereunder be quieted, and that a receiver be appointed to take possesstion and proceed with the extraction and disposal of the oil and gas for the benefit of whomsoever may prove to be entitled to it. After the filing of the bill, a receiver was appointed, who took possession and proceeded as suggested. Thereafter George Franklin Berryhill, who had not been made a party to the bill, was permitted to file in the suit a petition in intervention, wherein he asserted full title in himself to the land, subject only to the lease to the complainant, specifically set forth the claims of the defendants, assailed those claims as invalid and clouds upon his title, and sought a decree establishing the latter as against the former. Answers and replications were filed, proofs were taken, and on the final hearing a decree was entered for the defendants. 162 Fed. 331. The complainant and the intervener separately appealed to the circuit court of appeals, where the decree was affirmed (95 C. C. A. 615, 170 Fed. 529), and then the case was brought here.

Our jurisdiction is challenged by a motion to dismiss the appeal. Section 6 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. at L. 828, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 550), declares that 'the judgments or decrees of the circuit court of appeals shall be final in all cases in which the jurisdiction is dependent entirely upon the opposite parties to the suit or controversy being . . . citizens of different states,' and this refers to the jurisdiction of the Federal court of first instance. Thus, it becomes necessary to consider whether the jurisdiction of the circuit court depended entirely upon diversity of citizenship. If it did, the appeals must be dismissed.

The question is not affected by the petition in intervention, for it was entertained and disposed of in virtue of the jurisdiction already invoked; and if the decree is final in respect of the original suit, it is equally so in respect of the intervention. Rouse v. Letcher, 156 U. S. 47, 39 L. ed. 341, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 266; Gregory v. Van Ee, 160 U. S. 643, 40 L. ed. 566, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 431; Pope v. Louisville, N. A. & C. R. Co. 173 U. S. 573, 43 L. ed. 814, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 500; St. Louis, K. C. & C. R. Co. v. Wabash R. Co. 217 U. S. 247, 250, 54 L. ed. 752, 754, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 510.

In opposing the motion, the appellants contend that the case arose under...

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