Leisnoi, Inc. v. U.S., 02-35190.

Decision Date19 December 2002
Docket NumberNo. 02-35190.,02-35190.
Citation313 F.3d 1181
PartiesLEISNOI, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee. Omar Stratman, Applicant in intervention-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Michael J. Schneider and Eric R. Cossman, Law Offices of Michael J. Schneider, P.C., Anchorage, Alaska, for the appellant.

John R. Fitzgerald, McAlpine & Cozad, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Todd S. Aagaard, United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C., for the appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska; H. Russel Holland, Chief Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-99-00608-A-HRH.

Before: CANBY and GRABER, Circuit Judges, and MARSHALL,** District Judge.

CANBY, Circuit Judge.

Omar Stratman appeals the district court's dismissal of his motion to intervene in a suit brought by Alaska Native village corporation Leisnoi, Inc., against the United States under the Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2409a. The Quiet Title Act permits suit against the United States "to adjudicate a disputed title to real property in which the United States claims an interest." Id. § 2409a(a). It also provides:

If the United States disclaims all interest in the real property or interest therein adverse to the plaintiff at any time prior to the actual commencement of the trial, which disclaimer is confirmed by order of the court, the jurisdiction of the district court shall cease....1

28 U.S.C. § 2409a(e).

In the present suit, the United States filed a disclaimer before trial, and the district court confirmed the disclaimer, quieted title in Leisnoi, and dismissed the action for lack of further jurisdiction. It then dismissed as moot Stratman's motion to intervene, which had been filed before the disclaimer. We affirm the dismissal of Stratman's motion.

Factual and Procedural Background

This is the third time this quiet title dispute has been before us. The tortuous details are set out more fully in our decisions in Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 170 F.3d 1188, 1189-91 (9th Cir.1999) ("Leisnoi I"), and Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 267 F.3d 1019, 1021-22 (9th Cir.2001) ("Leisnoi II"), but the basic facts are as follows.

As an Alaska Native village corporation, Leisnoi in 1985 received a surface estate in land by patent from the United States pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ("ANCSA"). Stratman has conducted ranching operations on the former federal lands patented to Leisnoi. Stratman contends that Leisnoi never properly qualified as a Native Village under ANCSA, and that the lands it selected therefore must be returned to the federal government.

Leisnoi desired to sell some of this land to Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustees ("Trustees"), but has been unable to do so because the Trustees are concerned that Leisnoi's title to the land could revert to the United States. The Trustees' concern flows from a notice of lis pendens covering Leisnoi's land recorded by Stratman on behalf of the United States. The lis pendens was filed on the strength of a "decertification" action filed in federal court by Stratman and other individuals, claiming that Leisnoi did not qualify as a Native village under ANCSA, and that Leisnoi must return to the federal government the land that it received pursuant to ANCSA. This decertification action was referred by the federal district court to the Interior Board of Land Appeals.2

In an effort to quiet title to the land, Leisnoi brought suit against Stratman in Alaska Superior Court in 1996. The Superior Court agreed with Leisnoi that Stratman, as a third party, had no interest in the title to Leisnoi's land. The court entered judgment quieting title in Leisnoi and removing any clouds that Stratman had placed on the title. Nonetheless, the Trustees maintained that quieting the title against Stratman did not guarantee that the United States would not reacquire Leisnoi's land, because they feared that Leisnoi's land could revert to the United States if Leisnoi were to be "decertified" in the pending federal administrative proceedings.3

Leisnoi therefore brought an action in federal court against the United States under the Quiet Title Act to establish authoritatively that there was no possibility of the land reverting to the United States. The district court denied initial jurisdiction and we affirmed on the ground that there was no dispute in title as required by § 2409a(a); the United States claimed no adverse interest and Stratman's claim on behalf of the United States did not cloud title because it had been rejected by the state superior court. See Leisnoi I, 170 F.3d at 1189-90, 1193-94.

After the decision of the district court in Leisnoi I, the Alaska Supreme Court vacated the state superior court's decision and directed that a stay be entered until Stratman's decertification action was completed and that Stratman's notice of lis pendens remain in effect to notify prospective purchasers of the possibility of reversion of Leisnoi's lands to the United States. Stratman v. Leisnoi, Inc., 969 P.2d 1139, 1143 (Alaska 1998). Leisnoi accordingly filed this second action in federal district court under the Quiet Title Act. The district court again dismissed for lack of initial jurisdiction, but we reversed on the ground that the reinstatement of Stratman's lis pendens created a cloud on Leisnoi's title and raised a dispute of title between the United States (whose title was being asserted by Stratman) and Leisnoi, thus providing for initial jurisdiction under § 2409a(a). Leisnoi II, 267 F.3d at 1023-24.

Upon remand, the district court took initial jurisdiction. Stratman moved to intervene, and the United States filed a disclaimer of title. The district court confirmed the disclaimer, quieting title in Leisnoi. The district court then dismissed the action because the disclaimer deprived it of jurisdiction, and it dismissed as moot Stratman's motion to intervene. Stratman now appeals.

Discussion

We have jurisdiction over the district court's denial of Stratman's motion to intervene as of right, because it is a final appealable order.4 28 U.S.C. § 1291; Southwest Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Berg, 268 F.3d 810, 814 (9th Cir.2001). We review de novo a denial of a motion to intervene. Id. at 817.

The only question properly raised by Stratman is whether the district court erred in denying his motion as moot. See United States v. Ford, 650 F.2d 1141, 1143 (9th Cir.1981). There was no error. Once the United States filed its disclaimer of the land claimed by Leisnoi, the plain terms of § 2409a(e) deprived the district court of jurisdiction. See Alaska v. United States, 201 F.3d 1154, 1162 (9th Cir.2000). It was required to dismiss, and did so.5 There remained no controversy in which Stratman could intervene. See Ford, 650 F.2d at 1143.

Stratman contends that it was improper for the district court to dismiss his motion as moot because it was filed before the United States filed its disclaimer of title. He insists that his motion is not moot because, if it were granted, he could appeal the judgment of dismissal. There are two fatal defects in this line of argument. First, Stratman offers no authority requiring the district court to follow a particular order in addressing motions or other pleadings. Second, Stratman does not assert an interest that would allow him to contest the dismissal. Stratman did not seek to intervene in order to assert a title claim of his own; he claimed only that the United States was entitled to Leisnoi's land. "It is not sufficient for one challenging a patent to show that the patentee should not have received the patent; he must also show that he (the challenger) is entitled to it." Kale v. United States, 489 F.2d 449, 454 (9th Cir.1973). The cloud that lay over Leisnoi's title as a result of Stratman's lis pendens was the possibility that Leisnoi's land might revert to the United States. The decision whether to negate that possibility by filing a disclaimer in this Quiet Title action was...

To continue reading

Request your trial
11 cases
  • High Country Citizens Alliance v. Clarke
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit
    • 21 Julio 2006
    ...is entitled to it." Kale v. United States, 489 F.2d 449, 454 (1973) (internal citations omitted); see also Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 313 F.3d 1181, 1185 (9th Cir.2002).12 Moreover, as recently as 1999, the Ninth Circuit relied on Smelting Co. to define a patent as "an official declara......
  • Ministry of Defense and Support v. Cubic Defense
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • 7 Octubre 2004
    ...respectively. JURISDICTION The denial of a motion to intervene as of right is an appealable final order. Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 313 F.3d 1181, 1184 (9th Cir.2002). In addition, district court orders entered after the entry of judgment are generally reviewable by a separate appeal. ......
  • Barnes v. Babbitt
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Arizona
    • 20 Julio 2004
    ...United States `to adjudicate a disputed title to real property in which the United States claims an interest.'" Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 313 F.3d 1181, 1182 (9th Cir.2002) (quoting § 2409a). A complaint bringing an action under § 2409a must "set forth with particularity the nature of......
  • Samuel C. Johnson 1988 v. Bayfield County, Wis.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • 2 Abril 2008
    ...addressed the effect of a disclaimer of interest under 28 U.S.C. § 2409a(e). The most closely analogous case is Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 313 F. 3d 1181 (9th Cir.2002), in which Leisnoi, an Alaska Native village corporation, sought to quiet title against the United States with respect......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT