Summa Corporation v. California State Lands Commission

• Decision Date: 17 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-708,82-708
• Citation: 80 L.Ed.2d 237,466 U.S. 198,104 S.Ct. 1751
• Parties: SUMMA CORPORATION, Petitioner v. CALIFORNIA ex rel. STATE LANDS COMMISSION and City of Los Angeles
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

466 U.S. 198

104 S.Ct. 1751

80 L.Ed.2d 237

SUMMA CORPORATION, Petitioner

v CALIFORNIA ex rel. STATE LANDS COMMISSION and City of Los Angeles.

No. 82-708.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Feb. 29, 1984.

Decided April 17, 1984.

Rehearing Denied June 4, 1984.

Syllabus

Petitioner owns the fee title to the Ballona Lagoon, a narrow body of water connected to a manmade harbor located in the city of Los Angeles on the Pacific Ocean. The lagoon became part of the United States following the war with Mexico, which was formally ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Petitioner's predecessors-in-interest had their interest in the lagoon confirmed in federal patent proceedings pursuant to an 1851 Act that had been enacted to implement the treaty, and that provided that the validity of claims to California lands would be decided according to Mexican law. California made no claim to any interest in the lagoon at the time of the patent proceedings, and no mention was made of any such interest in the patent that was issued. Los Angeles brought suit against petitioner in a California state court, alleging that the city held an easement in the Ballona Lagoon for commerce, navigation, fishing, passage of fresh water to canals, and water recreation, such an easement having been acquired at the time California became a State. California was joined as a defendant as required by state law and filed a cross-complaint alleging that it had acquired such an easement upon its admission to the Union and had granted this interest to the city. The trial court ruled in favor of the city and State, finding that the lagoon was subject to the claimed public trust easement. The California Supreme Court affirmed, rejecting petitioner's arguments that the lagoon had never been tideland, that even if it had been, Mexican law imposed no servitude on the fee interest by reason of that fact, and that even if it were tideland and subject to servitude under Mexican law, such a servitude was forfeited by the State's failure to assert it in the federal patent proceedings.

Held: California cannot at this late date assert its public trust easement over petitioner's property, when petitioner's predecessors-in-interest had their interest confirmed without any mention of such an easement in the federal patent proceedings. The interest claimed by California is one of such substantial magnitude that regardless of the fact that the claim is asserted by the State in its sovereign capacity, this interest must have been presented in the patent proceedings or be barred. Cf. Barker v. Harvey, 181 U.S. 481, 21 S.Ct. 690, 45 L.Ed. 963; United States v. Title Ins. & Trust Co., 265 U.S. 472, 44 S.Ct. 621, 68 L.Ed. 1110; United States v. Coronado Beach Co., 255 U.S. 472, 41 S.Ct. 378, 65 L.Ed. 736. Pp. 205-209.

31 Cal.3d 288, 182 Cal.Rptr. 599, 644 P.2d 792, reversed and remanded.

Warren M. Christopher, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

Louis F. Claiborne, Washington, D.C., for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of Court.

Nancy Alvarado Saggese, Los Angeles, Cal., for respondents.

Justice REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner owns the fee title to property known as the Ballona Lagoon, a narrow body of water connected to Marina del Rey, a manmade harbor located in a part of the city of Los Angeles called Venice. Venice is located on the Pacific Ocean between the Los Angeles International Airport and the city of Santa Monica. The present case arises from a lawsuit brought by respondent city of Los Angeles against petitioner Summa Corp. in state court, in which the city alleged that it held an easement in the Ballona Lagoon for commerce, navigation, and fishing, for the passage of fresh waters to the Venice Canals, and for water recreation. The State of California, joined as a defendant as required by state law, filed a cross-complaint alleging that it had acquired an interest in the lagoon for commerce, navigation, and fishing upon its admission to the Union, that it held this interest in trust for the public, and that it had granted this interest to the city of Los Angeles. The city's complaint indicated that it wanted to dredge the lagoon and make other improvements without having to exercise its power of eminent domain over petitioner's property. The trial court 117 Cal.App.3d 335, 172 Cal.Rptr. 619 ruled in favor of respondents, finding that the lagoon was subject to the public trust easement claimed by the city and the State, who had the right to construct improvements in the lagoon without exercising the power of eminent domain or compensating the landowners. The Supreme Court of California affirmed the ruling of the trial court. City of Los Angeles v. Venice Peninsula Properties, 31 Cal.3d 288, 182 Cal.Rptr. 599, 644 P.2d 792 (1982).

In the Supreme Court of California, petitioner asserted that the Ballona Lagoon had never been tideland, that even if it had been tideland, Mexican law imposed no servitude on the fee interest by reason of that fact, and that even if it were tideland and subject to a servitude under Mexican law, such a servitude was forfeited by the failure of the State to assert it in the federal patent proceedings. The Supreme Court of California ruled against petitioner on all three of these grounds. We granted certiorari, 460 U.S. 1036, 103 S.Ct. 1425, 75 L.Ed.2d 786 (1983), and now reverse that judgment, holding that even if it is assumed that the Ballona Lagoon was part of tidelands subject by Mexican law to the servitude described by the Supreme Court of California, the State's claim to such a servitude must have been presented in the federal patent proceeding in order to survive the issue of a fee patent.¹

Petitioner's title to the lagoon, like all the land in Marina del Rey, dates back to 1839, when the Mexican Governor of California granted to Augustin and Ignacio Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes a property known as the Rancho Ballona.² The land comprising the Rancho Ballona became part of the United States following the war between the United States and Mexico, which was formally ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. 9 Stat. 922. Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the United States undertook to protect the property rights of Mexican landowners, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Art. VIII, 9 Stat. 929, at the same time settlers were moving into California in large numbers to exploit the mineral wealth and other resources of the new territory. Mexican grants encompassed well over 10 million acres in California and included some of the best land suitable for development. H.R.Rep. No. 1, 33d Cong., 2d Sess., 4-5 (1854). As we wrote long ago:

"The country was new, and rich in mineral wealth, and attracted settlers, whose industry and enterprise produced an unparalleled state of prosperity. The enhanced value given to the whole surface of the country by the discovery of gold, made it necessary to ascertain and settle all private land claims, so that the real estate belonging to individuals could be separated from the public domain." Peralta v. United States, 3 Wall. 434, 439, 18 L.Ed. 221 (1866). See also Botiller v. Dominguez, 130 U.S. 238, 244, 9 S.Ct. 525, 526, 32 L.Ed. 926 (1889).

To fulfill its obligations under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and to provide for an orderly settlement of Mexican land claims, Congress passed the Act of March 3, 1851, setting up a comprehensive claims settlement procedure. Under the terms of the Act, a Board of Land Commissioners was established with the power to decide the rights of "each and every person claiming lands in California by virtue of any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican government. . . ." Act of Mar. 3, 1851, § 8, ch. 41, 9 Stat. 632. The Board was to decide the validity of any claim according to "the laws, usages, and customs" of Mexico, § 11, while parties before the Board had the right to appeal to the District Court for a de novo determination of their rights, § 9; Grisar v. McDowell, 6 Wall. 363, 375, 18 L.Ed. 863 (1867), and to appeal to this Court, § 10. Claimants were required to present their claims within two years, however, or have their claims barred. § 13; see Botiller v. Dominguez, supra. The final decree of the Board, or any patent issued under the Act, was also a conclusive adjudication of the rights of the claimant as against the United States, but not against the interests of third parties with superior titles. § 15.

In 1852 the Machados and the Talamantes petitioned the Board for confirmation of their title under the Act. Following a hearing, the petition was granted by the Board, App. 21, and affirmed by the United States District Court on ap- peal, id., at 22-23. Before a patent could issue, however, a survey of the property had to be approved by the Surveyor General of California. The survey for this purpose was completed in 1858, and although it was approved by the Surveyor General of California, it was rejected upon submission to the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior. Id., at 32-34.

In the confirmation proceedings that followed, the proposed survey was readvertised and interested parties informed of their right to participate in the proceedings.³ The property owners immediately north of the Rancho Ballona protested the proposed survey of the Rancho Ballona; the Machados and Talamantes, the original grantees, filed affidavits in support of their claim. As a result of these submissions, as well as a consideration of the surveyor's field notes and underlying Mexican documents, the General Land Office withdrew its objection to the proposed ocean boundary. The Secretary of the Interior subsequently approved the survey and in 1873 a patent was issued confirming title in the Rancho Ballona to the original Mexican grantees. Id., at 101-109. Significantly, the federal patent issued to the Machados and Talamantes made no mention of any public...