Ellis v. Cates

• Decision Date: 20 December 1949
• Docket Number: No. 5984.,5984.
• Citation: 178 F.2d 791
• Parties: ELLIS v. CATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

178 F.2d 791 (1949)

ELLIS v. CATES.

No. 5984.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued November 16, 1949.

Decided December 20, 1949.

John Locke Green, Arlington, Va. (Alfred W. Trueax, Arlington, Va., on brief), for appellant.

Fred W. Smith, Attorney, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (A. Devitt Vanech, Assistant Attorney General; George R. Humrickhouse, U. S. Attorney, Richmond, Va., and Roger P. Marquis, Attorney, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., on brief) for appellee.

Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment for defendant in an action by the Receiver of the Quantico Company against Clifton B. Cates, Commanding General in charge of the Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia. The action was one in ejectment and sought recovery of the identical lands which had been claimed by Receivers of the Quantico Company in a prior action and which had been adjudged to be the property of the United States in a subsequent suit instituted to quiet title and enjoin that litigation. See United States v. McIntosh, D.C., 57 F.2d 573, and D.C., 2 F.Supp. 244, rehearing denied D.C., 3 F.Supp. 715, appeals dismissed by this court 70 F.2d 507. The lands, which had been leased to the United States, had been subsequently acquired by the United States under condemnation proceedings pursuant to the Act of July 1, 1918, 40 Stat. 704, 724, 738, and the Quantico Company had been duly paid the amount to which it was entitled thereunder. All of this was fully established in the prior litigation; and judicial notice thereof was properly taken by the trial judge in the court below on the motion for summary judgment. The facts are thus stated in the opinion of Judge Chesnut, 2 F.Supp. at page 250:

"The act of Congress of July 1, 1918, ch. 114, 40 Stat. 704, 724, was passed while the government of the United States was at war with Germany and Austria. It authorized the President to take over immediately title to about 5,000 acres of land at Quantico, Va., as a Naval Post for the Marine Corps; and authorized the President to determine the just compensation to be paid to the owners, to be paid immediately if satisfactory to them, otherwise 75 per cent. of the amount to be paid at once with leave to them to sue in the Court of Claims, or, if the amount was not more than $10,000, in the appropriate United States District Court. The act further provided that the title in fee simple should vest immediately and absolutely in the United States upon the taking.

"The procedure in carrying out the act was as follows: Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy, the President signed a proclamation taking over title to the lands and authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to notify the owners that they must vacate within thirty days, and that they should present their claims for just compensation to a board constituted by the Secretary of the Navy to determine the amounts. The landowners were given the opportunity to present their claims in person or by counsel and submit evidence of value to this board. And the numerous claimants generally did so. The board determined the respective values, of which the landowners were notified, and the Secretary of the Navy approved the findings. With respect to the four landowners here involved, all acquiesced in the taking of their lands, and three ultimately accepted the amounts so determined by the President as just compensation in full satisfaction. In the McIntosh case the landowner accepted 75 per cent. of the amount so determined, and sued in the Court of Claims for the balance, and, after obtaining judgment therein, accepted the amount of the judgment without appeal."

After noting the objections made to the proceedings, Judge Chesnut said 2 F.Supp. at page 251:

"These objections have been urged by counsel for the defendants in elaborate oral and written arguments, and are sought to be supported by very many judicial precedents. The questions raised are interesting and important; but after study of the authorities, I think there is no doubt that title to the land was validly acquired by the government from these landowners under the authority of the act and the procedure taken thereunder."

After an elaborate review of the authorities supporting his view as to the validity of the condemnation, Judge Chesnut held that, irrespective of its validity, the parties were estopped to question the government's title by reason of their having accepted the amounts awarded them as compensation, saying, 2 F.Supp. at pages 253-254:

"Even if there were some legal invalidity in the act or some irregularity in the procedure thereunder for taking the property, each and all of the defendants are clearly estopped by their conduct to deny that the government has good title to the lands. Two of the landowners, the Quantico Company, and the County School Board of Prince William county, accepted the amount of the awards as just compensation and contemporaneously gave to the government receipts and releases in which they recited in effect that the taking was valid and effective in pursuance of the act, and expressed themselves as fully satisfied with the payment made."

Notwithstanding the decree rendered in that case adjudging the title in the lands to be in the United States and enjoining the receivers of the Quantico Company from proceeding with the ejectment action which they had instituted in the Virginia courts, this action was...