Denison v. Udall

Decision Date10 December 1965
Docket NumberNo. Civ-963-Pct.,Civ-963-Pct.
Citation248 F. Supp. 942
PartiesMarie W. DENISON, individually and as Executrix of the Estate of Alvis F. Denison, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. Stewart L. UDALL, Secretary of the Department of the Interior of the United States of America, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Arizona

Ryley, Carlock & Ralston, Phoenix, Ariz., for plaintiff.

William Copple, U. S. Atty., by Richard S. Allemann, Asst. U. S. Atty., Phoenix, Ariz., for defendant.

CRAIG, District Judge.

The plaintiff in this case, Denison, seeks judicial review of the final decision of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior. The Solicitor denied Denison's patent application on sixteen manganese mining claims located in the Sitgreaves National Forest, Coconino County, Arizona, and declared the claims to be void.

The Agency action contested herein by plaintiff is subject to judicial review, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. §§ 1001-1011. As indicated in Adams v. Witmer, 271 F.2d 29, at page 37 (9th CCA 1961), dealing with the review of a placer claim cancellation by agency action, review should be pursuant to Section 10(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 1009(e). Such review should be confined to the whole Agency record, or such portion thereof as may be cited by any party, and additional evidence should not be admitted. Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 464, 95 L.Ed. 456.

As indicated by the Court in Adams v. Witmer, supra, there should be no de novo judicial determination by this Court, but a determination that the final administrative decision is or is not substantially supported by the administrative record. Therefore, a summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, may be granted for either party in response to their cross-motions. Adams v. United States, 318 F.2d 861 (9th CCA 1963).

The Solicitor of the Department of the Interior has captioned his decision in the present case as deciding that, although a mining claim may have been valid in the past because of a discovery on the claim of a valuable deposit of mineral, the mining claim will lose its validity if the mineral deposit ceases to be valuable because of a change in economic conditions, and there is no reasonable prospect of a future market.

Neither the various briefs of the parties, nor the independent search of the Court, indicates sufficient evidence in the record to substantiate the Solicitor's finding that the claims have ceased to be valuable. All the pages of the hearing record cited by the Solicitor in footnote 4 of his decision, incorporated by reference, but not supplemented in the defendant's answer, indicate only testimony of witnesses appearing on behalf of the plaintiff, Denison, in the administrative hearing. Their testimony indicates that a reasonable man might well expend money, as Denison had done, in the expectation of a future market for the manganese extracted, even though the present value is not such as to guarantee a profit. A government witness, Mr. Tragitt, went so far as to say he believed four of the claims were patentable if changed from lode to placer claims. (Record of hearing, pp. 487-488.) There was little or no proof adduced that a reasonable man might not expect the market to return, and a substantial amount to indicate that he could.

Cases cited by the defendant as controlling in this case are Mulkern v. Hammitt (9 CCA 1964), 326 F.2d 896, and Adams v. United States, supra. Both cases dealt with the judicial review of placer mining claim cancellations.

The earlier case decided, Adams v. United States, dealt with the denial of a patent application and the cancellation of the placer claim for a worked out gold mine in Charlie Canyon, Angeles Forest, Los Angeles County, California. It was held that the showing which must be made with respect to value in order to establish a valid claim for a metallic mineral pursuant to 30 U.S.C. 22 et seq., was that stated in Castle v. Womble, 19 L.D. 455, 457, and thereafter given recognition by the Supreme Court in Chrisman v. Miller, 197 U.S. 313, 325, 25 S.Ct. 468, 470, 49 L.Ed. 770.

This test, as quoted by the Court in Adams v. United States, is:

"Where minerals have been found and the evidence is of such a character that a person of ordinary prudence would be justified in the further expenditure of his labor and means, with a reasonable prospect of success, in developing a valuable mine, the requirements of the statute have been met." 318 F.2d 861, 870.

This has recently been used by the United States Supreme Court in Best v. Humboldt Placer Mining Co., 371 U.S. 334, 83 S.Ct. 379, 9 L.Ed.2d 350 (1963).

The Court, in Adams v. United States, further stated that the agency properly considered evidence as to the cost of extracting the mineral, not to ascertain whether assured profits were presently demonstrated, but whether, under the circumstances, a person of ordinary prudence would expend substantial sums in the expectation that a profitable mine might be developed. As the mine was worked out, evidence of the value of recoveries made twenty years prior to the final administrative decision had little relation to the value at the time of the hearing, and so was properly given little weight.

Adams v. United States held that before a mineral patent can be issued, it must be shown as a present fact, at the time of the application for patent, that the claim is valuable for minerals. But value, in the sense of proved ability to mine the deposit at a profit, need not be shown. The reasonable expectation of future profitable exploitation would be enough...

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7 cases
  • Coleman v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • 21 Junio 1966
    ...judicial review under the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act, Adams v. Witmer, 271 F.2d 29 (9 CCA 1959), Denison v. Udall, 248 F.Supp. 942 (D.C.Ariz.1965), and that a counterclaim is a permissible method of obtaining such review. Adams v. United States, The District Judge rendere......
  • State of Mont. v. U.S. E.P.A.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Montana
    • 27 Marzo 1996
    ...where, as here, review is on the administrative record. Adams v. United States, 318 F.2d 861, 865 (9th Cir.1963); Denison v. Udall, 248 F.Supp. 942, 944 (D.Ariz.1965) ("there should be no de novo review by this Court, but a determination that the final administrative decision is or is not s......
  • Arkla Exploration Co. v. Watt
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas
    • 20 Septiembre 1982
    ...Adams v. United States, 318 F.2d 861 (9th Cir. 1963); Coleman v. United States, 363 F.2d 190 (9th Cir. 1966); Denison v. Udall, 248 F.Supp. 942 (D.Ariz.1965); Foster v. Jensen, 296 F.Supp. 1348 (C.D.Cal.1966), although the Secretary is frequently This Court has no desire to substitute its j......
  • Dow Jones & Co., Inc. v. United States Postal Serv.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Delaware
    • 26 Julio 1974
    ...presents only a question of law, summary judgment is appropriate. Dredge Corp. v. Penny, 338 F.2d 456 (C.A.9, 1964); Denison v. Udall, 248 F. Supp. 942 (D.Ariz.1965); Henrikson v. Udall, 229 F.Supp. 510 (N.D.Cal.1964), aff'd 350 F.2d 949 (C.A.9, 1965), cert. den. 384 U.S. 940, 86 S.Ct. 1457......
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