Soda Flat Co. v. Hodel
| Decision Date | 09 September 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. CV F-85-588 EDP.,CV F-85-588 EDP. |
| Citation | 670 F. Supp. 879 |
| Parties | SODA FLAT COMPANY, a California corporation, Plaintiff, v. Donald HODEL, United States Secretary of the Interior, Robert Burford, Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Edward Hastey, State Director California Office of the Bureau of Land Management; and the United States of America, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
James R. Parker, Kuhs & Parker, Bakersfield, Cal., for plaintiff.
Sandra K. Dunn, Trial Atty., Dept. of Justice, Land and Natural Resources Div., Sacramento, Cal., for defendants.
AMENDED MEMORANDUM DECISION ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Plaintiff filed its Complaint for a review of an administrative decision and to quiet title. After extensive discovery, the parties filed cross motions for summary judgment.
In preparation for the hearing on the cross motions for summary judgment, the parties stipulated as follows:
That the following facts are true and the following documents genuine for the purposes of this action and this action alone: The real property which is the subject matter of this action is an 80-acre parcel of real property in Tulare County, California, more particularly described as the South Half of the Southeast Quarter of Section 36, Township 19 South, Range 33 East, M.D.B & M., Tulare County, California, according to the official plat thereof (hereinafter the "Real Property"). The Real Property, and all of Section 36 of which the Real Property is a part, was granted by the United States to the State of California as "school lands" under the Act of March 3, 1953 (10 Stat. 244) upon approval of the official plat of such township by the Surveyor General on June 28, 1883.
By Patent dated October 2, 1900 and recorded on October 12, 1900 in Volume U of Patents, Page 141, Tulare County Official Records (Exhibit 1), the State of California granted the Real Property to one C.E. Glover.
On December 1, 1900, C.E. Glover, pursuant to the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 36) and the Rules and Regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Interior (24 L.D. 589, 592-593 (1897) (Exhibit 2)), filed with the Registrar and Receiver, United States Land Office, Redding, California, Lieu Selection Application No. 3516, consisting of the Application (Exhibit 3), the Affidavit of John McKea that the land selected was nonmineral and agricultural in character (Exhibit 4), an abstract of title to the Real Property duly certified by the Tulare County Recorder, and a Relinquishment Deed to the Real Property in favor of the United States dated October 8, 1900 (Exhibit 5), which Glover had previously recorded on October 12, 1900 in Book 100 of Deeds, Page 395 of Tulare County Official Records, as required by the Secretary of Interior's Regulations (Exhibit 2).
Pursuant to the Regulations (Exhibit 2), the Registrar and Receiver at the Redding Office forwarded Glover's application to the Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington D.C. for consideration. On January 2, 1902, the application was examined, the lands selected were found free from conflict and proper, except as to mineral status and publication, and the file was referred to Division "N". On January 6, 1902, Lieu Selection No. 3516 was examined, found free from mineral or other conflicts, and referred to Division P. On June 17, 1911, the Commissioner issued charges against Lieu Selection No. 3516, alleging that the application for the state patent to the Real Property was fraudulently made.
By decision dated November 10, 1915 (Exhibit 6), the Commissioner of the General Land Office rejected Lieu Selection Application No. 3516, refused to accept the Relinquishment Deed to the Real Property tendered by Glover, and cancelled Application No. 3516, on the grounds that, "the selector has no title to the lands offered as base for this selection ..." W.S. Kingsbury, Surveyor General of the State of California, had received on August 2, 1911 a copy of the charges filed against Lieu Selection No. 3516 dated June 17, 1911. The State of California has never commenced any action or proceeding to set aside the Patent dated October 2, 1900 to C.E. Glover (Exhibit 1) or quiet title to the Real Property.
When requested, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, after rejecting a lieu selection application, issued a disclaimer to the base land, intending that such disclaimer be recorded in the local land records of the county in which the base land was located for the purpose of clearing any cloud upon title created by the prior recording of the relinquishment deed. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, when requested, also returned the relinquishment deed and abstract of title to the applicant. Examples of disclaimer letters and letters returning relinquishment deeds and abstracts are included in the file as Exhibits 11-1 through 11-18 and 11-19 through 11-33, respectively.
By Indenture dated July 11, 1919 and recorded on October 15, 1919 in Volume 278 of Deeds, Page 254, Tulare County Official Records (Exhibit 7), C.E. Glover conveyed the Real Property to The McCloud River Lumber Company. By letters dated February 7, 1919 (Exhibit 8) and May 2, 1919 (Exhibit 9), The McCloud River Lumber Company, through its attorneys, Marshall & Glavis, requested the Commissioner of the General Land Office to furnish them with a disclaimer by the Government to the Real Property. By letter dated May 10, 1919 (Exhibit 10), Clay Tallman, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, advised Marshall & Glavis, as attorneys for the McCloud River Lumber Company, that Selection No. 3516 had been cancelled on November 10, 1915, "... the United States by such cancellation refused to accept title to said base lands and does not now claim any right, title or interest to the said lands above described." On July 15, 1919, the abstract of title submitted by Glover was returned to B.W. Marshall, "... as attorney for C.E. Glover and The McCloud Lumber Co."
The Commissioner's disclaimer letter dated May 10, 1919 covering the Real Property was recorded on October 15, 1919 in Volume 11 of Miscellaneous Records, Page 483, Tulare County Official Records (Exhibit 12) in connection with the sale of the Real Property by The McCloud River Lumber Company to Eugene L. Scott by Indenture dated August 2, 1919, also recorded on October 15, 1919 in Volume 278 of Deeds, Page 255, Tulare County Official Records (Exhibit 13).
Eugene L. Scott constructed a one-room log cabin on the Real Property and fenced a substantial part thereof. The Real Property, its cabin and fenced pasturage became known as "Scott's Camp". Annual real property taxes have been assessed upon the Real Property and its improvements by the County of Tulare and have been paid each year since at least 1919.
The chain of conveyances of the Real Property from Eugene L. Scott to the plaintiff Soda Flat Company consists of the following described instruments, copies of which are included in the file as the following designated Exhibits:
Description of Document Exhibit
(a) Indenture dated February 12, 1923 from 14
Eugene L. Scott to Robert Horbach, recorded
on February 26, 1923 in Volume
10, Page 60 Tulare County Official
Records
(b) Indenture dated May 1, 1923 from Robert 15
Horbach in favor of Eugene L. Scott, recorded
on April 10, 1924 in Volume 62
Page 237, Tulare County Official Records
(c) Indenture dated May 1, 1923 from Eugene 16
L. Scott and Dora Scott, his wife, to J.W
Hewey, recorded on April 10, 1924 in Volume
62, Page 238, Tulare County Official
Records
(d) Decree of Final Distribution in the Matter 17
of the Estate of J.W. Hewey, Tulare
County Superior Court Probate No. 6475
dated June 10, 1935, in favor of his widow
Anna L. Hewey, recorded on June 10,
1935 in Volume 630, Page 216, Tulare
County Official Records.
(e) Deed dated July 14, 1943 from Anna L. 18
Hewey to Ralph L. Smith, Jr. and Edna
M. Smith, his wife, Frank Digier and Alberta
Digier, his wife, and Lloyd Ralphs
and Edna Ralphs, his wife, recorded on
August 7, 1943 in Volume 1040, Page 288,
Tulare County Official Records.
(f) Grant Deed dated February 19, 1968 from 19
Ralph L. Smith, Jr., Edna M. Smith, Frank
Digier, Alberta Digier, Lloyd Ralphs and
Edna Ralphs in favor of Soda Flat Company,
a California corporation, recorded on
March 4, 1968 in Volume 2767, Page 57,
Tulare County Official Records.
The Smiths, Digiers and Ralphs paid Anna Hewey $4,500 for the Real Property in 1943 and received a policy of title insurance in such amount from Title Insurance and Trust Company (Exhibit 20). The Smiths, Digiers and Ralphs at the time they acquired the Real Property had no knowledge of the charges made by the Commissioner against Lieu Selection No. 3516 in 1911. On October 31, 1967, Ralph and Edna Smith, Frank and Alberta Digier and Lloyd and Edna Ralphs incorporated Soda Flat Company, which remains a California corporation in good standing, and conveyed the Real Property to it in February 1968. The Smiths, Digiers and Ralphs from 1943 through 1967 paid real property taxes assessed upon the Real Property, its cabin and other improvements by the County of Tulare; Soda Flat Company has paid real property taxes assessed on the Real Property, its cabin and other improvements from 1968 through the current year. The Smiths, Ralphs and Digiers, and their families have used, occupied, maintained and improved the Real Property, its cabin, fences and other improvements from 1943 to the present. Photographs of the cabin, cookshed, bathhouse and other improvements are included in the file as Exhibit 21. Soda Flat Company and the County of Tulare by Land Conservation Contract dated ...
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