Midwestern Developments, Inc. v. City of Tulsa, Oklahoma

• Decision Date: 19 August 1964
• Docket Number: No. 7511.,7511.
• Citation: 333 F.2d 1009
• Parties: MIDWESTERN DEVELOPMENTS, INC., Appellant, v. The CITY OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA, a municipal corporation, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

333 F.2d 1009 (1964)

MIDWESTERN DEVELOPMENTS, INC., Appellant, v. The CITY OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA, a municipal corporation, Appellee.

No. 7511.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

July 11, 1964.

Rehearing Denied August 19, 1964.

Robert J. Woolsey, of Farmer, Woolsey, Flippo & Bailey, Tulsa, Okl., for appellant.

John Robert Seelye, Tulsa, Okl. (Charles E. Norman, City Atty., with him on brief), for appellee.

Before MURRAH, Chief Judge, and PICKETT and LEWIS, Circuit Judges.

MURRAH, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing, for lack of federal jurisdiction, a claim brought under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 as one involving requisite amount in controversy and arising out of federal law. The suit sought to quiet title to and recover damages for the taking of a strip of land in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, formerly part of a railroad right-of-way over a Creek Indian allotment. The trial Court did not think that the "necessary allegations" of the complaint stated a claim arising under federal law. We cannot agree.

The complaint alleged the allotment of the land to the Indian allottee, as provided by federal law, and execution by the allottee of a "Right-Of-Way Deed," purporting to convey to the railroad a strip of land 150 feet wide, over a portion of the allotment. It further alleged that through mesne conveyances the appellant, Midwestern Developments, Inc., acquired title to a portion of the allotted land abutting the rightof-way. It then alleged that the railroad company had conveyed, or attempted to convey, a 60 foot strip of the right-of-way abutting appellant's land, to the City of Tulsa for non-railroad purposes; that such conveyance constituted an abandonment of the strip of land for railroad purposes; and, that by force of federal law (Enid-Anadarko Act, February 28, 1902, 32 Stat. 43), pursuant to which the right-of-way was originally granted, the strip of land involved here reverted to appellant as the present owner of the abutting property. It was alleged that the City of Tulsa claims title to the strip of land in fee simple adverse to appellant, and the prayer is for judgment quieting title and damages in reverse condemnation for the taking of the land.

We know, of course, that a claim does not arise out of the laws of the United States so as to confer federal court jurisdiction merely because it may have its origin or source in federal law. The asserted right must depend upon the operative effect of federal law, i. e., the result of the suit must depend upon the construction and effect of such law. See: Prairie Band of Pottawatomie Tribe of Indians v. Puckkee (10 CA), 321 F.2d 767, and cases cited. And, in determining whether the complainant has stated a genuine and substantial federal question on which the result depends, we look beyond the naked allegations and to the statement of his own claim "unaided by anything alleged in anticipation or avoidance of defenses which it is thought the defendant may interpose." Taylor v. Anderson, 234 U.S. 74, 34 S.Ct. 724, 58 L.Ed. 1218. See: Viles v. Symes (10 CA), 129 F.2d 828; Martinez v. Southern Ute Tribe (10 CA), 273 F.2d 731; and Prairie Band of Pottawatomie Tribe of Indians v. Puckkee, supra. Cf. Norton v....