Oklahoma Gas & Elec. Co. v. U.S., 77-1939
| Decision Date | 09 January 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-1939,77-1939 |
| Citation | 609 F.2d 1365 |
| Parties | OKLAHOMA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, an Oklahoma corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Trustee and Owner of the legal title to said land for the use and benefit of a certain restricted Indian, and Willis E. Robedeaux and Juanita A. Robedeaux, his wife; and United States of America, acting through the Farmers Home Administration, United States Department of Agriculture; and The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Defendants-Appellees, and Citizens State Bank, Morrison, Oklahoma, Defendant, and Red Rock Co-op, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Clee Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald, Houston & Worthington, Stillwater, Okl., for defendant-appellant.
Maryann Walsh, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C. (with James W. Moorman, Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D.C., Hubert H. Bryant, U. S. Atty., and Hubert A. Marlow, Asst. U. S. Atty., Tulsa, Okl., and Carl Strass, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., on the brief), for defendant-appellee United States.
Roy E. Grantham of Grantham, Casey & Kirkpatrick, Ponca City, Okl., for defendants-appellees Willis E. Robedeaux and Juanita A. Robedeaux.
Before SETH, Chief Judge, and BARRETT and McKAY, Circuit Judges.
This is a condemnation action instituted by Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company. The subject land was part of a parcel allotted in 1907 to William Robedeaux, an Otoe Indian, pursuant to the General Allotment Act, now codified in Title 25 of the United States Code. Under § 348, the land is held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the allottee for a period which has been extended by the President to the time of this suit. 1 Allotted lands are not "liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the final patent in fee therefor." 25 U.S.C. § 354.
By a deed entitled "Deed to Restricted Indian Land Special Form," William conveyed the subject land in 1950 to his son, Willis E. Robedeaux. The deed, which contained all of the original restrictions, was approved under the authority of the Secretary of the Interior.
After this action was underway, Oklahoma Gas and Electric and Willis Robedeaux executed a memorandum of intent whereby Robedeaux would receive another parcel of real property, rather than a cash payment, in exchange for the land to be condemned. The Secretary of the Interior has indicated he would approve this exchange.
Red Rock Co-Op, joined as a defendant below, is a judgment creditor of Robedeaux. It asserts a lien against the anticipated proceeds of the condemnation. It objects to the proposed exchange as an attempt to interfere with its rights as a creditor.
In a well supported order, the district court held that the judgment creditor does not have an interest in Robedeaux's property or in the proceeds of its sale sufficient to permit interference with the exchange. The district court, applying federal law, 2 found that the United States retains its interest as trustee in the proceeds from condemned trust land. If the proceeds are reinvested in other land as provided by 25 U.S.C. § 409a, 3 the replacement land becomes subject to the trust. The court characterized the exchange as a reinvestment of what would have been the proceeds from the condemnation of Robedeaux's restricted property. Therefore, the restrictions against encumbrance continue through to the exchanged property and Robedeaux's creditors can claim no interest therein.
We agree and affirm the district court's decision. We add only that this result must obtain even though Willis Robedeaux was not the original allottee of the restricted property. The restrictions imposed on Indian land by the General Allotment Act run with the land and are not personal to the individual Indian allottee. 4 United States v. Noble, 237 U.S. 74, 80, 35 S.Ct. 532, 59 L.Ed. 844 (1915); Bowling v. United States, 233 U.S. 528, 535, 34 S.Ct. 659, 58 L.Ed. 1080 (1914); Couch v. Udall, 404 F.2d 97, 99 (10th Cir. 1968); Spriggs v. United States, 297 F.2d 460, 463 (10th Cir. 1961), Cert. denied, 369 U.S. 876, 82 S.Ct. 1148, 8 L.Ed.2d 279 (1962). The restrictions continue to bind the land until the time prescribed by Congress is allowed to lapse. Couch v. Udall, 404 F.2d at 99; United States v. Homeratha, 40 F.2d 305, 306 (W.D.Okl.1930), Appeal dismissed,49 F.2d 1086 (10th Cir. 1931). It is the ownership of the United States which is important for legal purposes, not the status of the particular Indian benefited. See Minnesota v. United States, 305 U.S. 382, 386, 59 S.Ct. 292, 83 L.Ed. 235 (1939); Stevens v. Commissioner, 452 F.2d 741, 747 (9th Cir. 1971).
The creditor argues that because Willis Robedeaux is a grantee rather than an heir, we can draw no support from cases which hold that restrictions continue to apply to Indian land held by the heirs of allottees. For practical purposes, Robedeaux is an heir. He merely received the land from his allottee father before, rather than after, his father's death. Robedeaux is not a mere grantee; he is a restricted grantee who obtained his interest in the allotted property with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The policies which favor treating Indian land as restricted when held by an heir also apply here.
In Stevens v. Commissioner, 452 F.2d 741 (9th Cir. 1971),...
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...state-created rights. See Markham v. City of Newport News, 292 F.2d 711, 713 (4th Cir. 1961); cf. Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. v. United States, 609 F.2d 1365, 1366 n.1 (10th Cir. 1979) (state does not by virtue of section 357 acquire the right to use state procedures or laws in condemnation......