U.S. v. Ruby Co.

• Decision Date: 08 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. 75-1411,75-1411
• Citation: 588 F.2d 697
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RUBY COMPANY, a Utah Corporation, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 697

588 F.2d 697

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RUBY COMPANY, a Utah Corporation, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 75-1411.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Nov. 8, 1978.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Dec. 29, 1978.

H. William Furchner (argued), of Furchner, Martsch & Baker, Blackfoot, Idaho, Dale G. Higer (argued), Boise, Idaho, for defendants-appellants.

Michael A. McCord, Atty. (argued), Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.

Before ELY and WALLACE, Circuit Judges, and BYRNE, ^* District Judge.

WALLACE, Circuit Judge:

Appellants are landowners against whom title was quieted to some 108.36 acres of land in Idaho. They raise contentions regarding sufficiency of the evidence and important questions concerning the doctrine of estoppel and its application to the government. We affirm.

In 1876, David contracted with the United States to survey certain lands situated along the Snake River in Idaho. As part of his task, David was required to determine the location of the river and to represent its situs by establishing meander lines. David completed his survey in April 1877. On the basis of his efforts, an official plat of the area was prepared and certified by the Surveyor General's Office at Boise, Idaho.

On June 29, 1891, the United States issued a patent to Forbes which conveyed a particular lot, the east boundary of which is described as the meander line of the Snake River. The landowners are successors in interest of the original patentee.

In 1922, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) made an investigation of the meander lines of the Snake River as represented by the David survey. The BLM concluded that David's meander line was fraudulent. As a result, the Surveyor General of Idaho recommended that a proper survey be made. In 1923, the General Land Office of the Department of Interior disapproved the recommendation.

In 1957, the BLM ordered a survey of the lands bordering the Snake River lying within the meander lines of the David survey. On the basis of this survey, the BLM concluded that the meander lines of the David survey were grossly erroneous. The variance in the actual position of the river banks and their position as represented by David resulted in some fourteen to sixteen thousand acres being omitted from the original survey. These omitted lands lie between the river's actual bed and David's meander lines.

The United States brought suit to quiet its title in the omitted lands. ¹ The landowners counterclaimed, praying that title be quieted in them. After a protracted period of delays and litigation, the district court entered judgment in favor of the United States.

I

The landowners' contentions arise primarily out of the application of the principle of conveyancing that the transferee of a parcel of real property, which is described as bounded by a body of water, takes title up to the actual water line. Thus, in the case of a federal land patent, the patentee takes title up to the actual water line, even though the survey on which the patent is based inaccurately depicts the position of the river. The underlying theory is that the surveyor's meander line is primarily used as an aid in calculating the size of the tract and does not independently operate to determine the dimensions of the conveyance. Producers Oil Co. v. Hanzen, 238 U.S. 325, 339, 35 S.Ct. 755, 59 L.Ed. 1330 (1915); Horne v. Smith, 159 U.S. 40, 42, 15 S.Ct. 988, 40 L.Ed. 68 (1895); Railroad Co. v. Schurmeir, 74 U.S. (7 Wall) 272, 286-87, 19 L.Ed. 74 (1869). ² Based upon this legal premise, the landowners argue that the original patentee acquired title up to the actual bank of the Snake River and that the present landowners, whose titles are derived from the patentee via intermediate conveyances, have title up to the actual water line.

There is, however, a second relevant principle of conveyancing which is an exception to the first. According to this limitation, when fraud or gross error causes severe inaccuracies in the position of the meander lines, the patent conveys only up to the meander line. Consequently, title to the lands lying between the fraudulent or grossly erroneous meander line and the actual water line remains the property of the United States. Jeems Bayou Fishing & Hunting Club v. United States, 260 U.S. 561, 564, 43 S.Ct. 205, 67 L.Ed. 402 (1923); Lee Wilson & Co. v. United States, 245 U.S. 24, 29, 38 S.Ct. 21, 62 L.Ed. 128 (1917); Security Land and Exploration Co. v. Burns, 193 U.S. 167, 180-83, 24 S.Ct. 425, 48 L.Ed. 662 (1904). The policy underpinnings of this rule are twofold. First, the patentee still receives all that was bargained or paid for since he or she receives the same size tract actually calculated and described in the patent. Second, policy disfavors binding the citizens generally by the fraudulent acts of a public official. ³

In the present case, the district judge concluded that the David survey of 1877 was "grossly erroneous." Therefore, under the principles discussed above, the original patent would have conveyed the land only up to the fictitious meander line.

The landowners attack the factual premise of the district court's decision, contending first that the David survey was not grossly erroneous and, second, that any lands lying between the meander lines and the stream bed have been exposed by reductions in the volume of the Snake River since the time of the David survey. Under this second contention, the landowners claim title to these newly-exposed lands pursuant to the doctrine of reliction. ⁴

These factual attacks must be considered in light of the rule that the district court's "(f)indings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witness." Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). From our examination of the record, we cannot conclude that the district judge was clearly erroneous when he found that the David survey was "grossly erroneous." ⁵ Accordingly, the case falls within the exception to the general rule and the title to the omitted lands remains with the people of the United States.

II

This factual decision does not end our inquiry because the landowners' central contention is that the equitable principles of estoppel should operate to prevent the government from asserting ownership rights in the disputed lands. This argument is based essentially on four assertions: (1) the government became aware of the fraudulent survey as early as 1922, (2) the landowners and others relied on the government's refusal to resurvey after the 1922 investigation, (3) the landowners acted in good faith without notice of the erroneous nature of the survey, and (4) the landowners and their predecessors relied on the David survey.

The landowners raised this argument in the trial court and the district judge specifically found that all of the elements of estoppel were established by a preponderance of the evidence. Nevertheless, he concluded "as a matter of law that estoppel will not lie as to the United States." We disagree.

We are not unmindful of the well-worn statement that the government is not subject to the equitable defense of estoppel. Utah Power & Light Co. v. United States, 243 U.S. 389, 408-09, 37 S.Ct. 387, 61 L.Ed. 791 (1917); Pine River Logging Co. v. United States, 186 U.S. 279, 291, 22 S.Ct. 920, 46 L.Ed.2d 1164 (1902); Lee v. Munroe, 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 366, 3 L.Ed. 373 (1813). Our reading of the more recent decisions, however, leads us to conclude that this rule is no longer absolute.

In Moser v. United States, 341 U.S. 41, 71 S.Ct. 553, 95 L.Ed. 729 (1951), for example, a Swiss national sought an exemption from military service pursuant to the terms of a Swiss-United States treaty. The Selective Service Act provided, however, that individuals who claimed exceptions as neutral aliens would thereafter be debarred from obtaining United States citizenship. In response to an inquiry by the Swiss Legation, the State Department "led (Moser) to believe" that he could take advantage of the treaty without prejudicing his rights to citizenship. The Supreme Court noted that the government had created "misleading circumstances" upon which Moser "justifiably relied" and as a result was technically debarred from citizenship. On these facts, the Court refused to allow the government to deny Moser citizenship. While the Moser opinion is not cast in terms of estoppel, it has been broadly interpreted as allowing the government to be estopped. See, e. g., 2 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 17.02, at 491 (1958); Comment, Santiago v. Immigration and Naturalization Service The Ninth Circuit Retreats from its Modern Approach to Estoppel Against the Government, 1976 Utah L.Rev. 371, 377.

A decade later, the Supreme Court commented that some lower federal courts had specifically allowed estoppel against the government based on the conduct of its officials. Montana v. Kennedy, 366 U.S. 308, 314-15, 81 S.Ct. 1336, 6 L.Ed.2d 313 (1961). However, the Court did not reach the estoppel question itself.

In Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Hibi, 414 U.S. 5, 94 S.Ct. 19, 38 L.Ed.2d 7 (1973), a Filipino alien requested naturalization under the Nationality Act of 1940 which provided for the naturalization of aliens who served honorably in the United States armed forces during World War II. Under the terms of the act, however, Hibi was required to petition for naturalization prior to 1947 and while still in active service. Unaware of these limitations, Hibi filed his petition long after expiration of his eligibility. Hibi then argued that the government should be estopped from adhering to the statutory time limit on the basis of the government's failure to advise him of his rights and failure to provide a naturalization official in the Philippines...