Weiser v. Union Pac. R.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 24 May 2010
• Docket Number: No. 20080124.,20080124.
• Citation: 2010 UT 4,649 Utah Adv. Rep. 32,247 P.3d 357
• Parties: Glen C. WEISER, Plaintiff and Appellant,v.UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

247 P.3d 357

649 Utah Adv. Rep. 32

2010 UT 4

Glen C. WEISER, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant and Appellee.

No. 20080124.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Feb. 5, 2010.Rehearing Denied May 24, 2010.

Steven W. Call, Elizabeth M. Peck, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.J. Clare Williams, Jeffery J. Devashrayee, Reha Deal, Salt Lake City, for defendant.WILKINS, Justice:

INTRODUCTION

¶ 1 In this direct appeal we are asked to determine the effect of a filed but unperfected pre-emption claim on the conveyance of property to the Utah Central Railroad Company under a perfected right-of-way grant by Act of Congress in 1870. Under federal law, a general right-of-way grant to a railroad is effective against pre-emptions that have only attached, but not against those that are perfected. In this case, the railroad grant is superior to the individual pre-emption claim advanced by Weiser. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the district court finding ownership in favor of Union Pacific.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Plaintiff Glen C. Weiser and defendant Union Pacific Railroad dispute ownership of a tract of land in Davis County, Utah (the Property). Weiser's ownership claim originates from a federal land patent to the Property received by his most remote predecessor-in-interest, George Tomlinson, issued by President Ulysses S. Grant on September 25, 1873. Prior to receiving the patent, and pursuant to the federal Pre-emption Act of 1841, Tomlinson filed a Declaratory Statement of Pre-emption on April 17, 1869. Final proof of pre-emption, including payment, was completed by July 6, 1872.

¶ 3 Union Pacific's ownership claim also originates from a federal land grant. Between May 1869 and January 1870, Union Pacific's predecessor-in-interest, the Utah Central Railroad Company (Utah Central), built a railroad line from Ogden to Salt Lake City in the Utah Territory. On December 15, 1870, Congress passed an Act (the Act, the Grant or the 1870 Railroad Grant) granting Utah Central “a Right of Way through the public Lands for the Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph ... to the extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass through the public domain.” This description directly overlays nearly all of the Property. As a condition to the Grant, the Act required Utah Central, within three months of passage of the Act, to “file with the Secretary of the Interior a map to be approved by him, exhibiting the line of the railroad” and to confirm acceptance of the terms and conditions. The Act was passed on December 15, 1870, and Utah Central was required to meet the conditions by March 15, 1871. Utah Central submitted its acceptance of the terms and conditions on March 2, 1871, and submitted a map on March 6, 1871. Although the Act did not require certification, the Secretary of the Interior rejected the map because it was not certified. Utah Central then submitted a certified map, which the Secretary received on March 29, 1871 and subsequently accepted.

¶ 4 In 1935, the District Court for Davis County entered a final judgment and decree that quieted title to the Property in favor of another of Weiser's predecessors-in-interest. At that time, the Railroad did not have any recorded interest in the Property on the Davis County or State of Utah records, and was not included as a party to the action.

¶ 5 In 1982, Union Pacific began construction of a semi-truck loading facility on the Property, of which Weiser became aware in 1987. Weiser requested in writing that Union Pacific surrender and vacate the Property, supported by a title report showing Weiser to be the record owner to the Property in fee simple. Union Pacific refused, and Weiser commenced an action in 1991 to obtain possession of, and quiet title to, the Property, as well as bringing other state law claims.

¶ 6 In September of 2002 the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) purchased the Property from Union Pacific pursuant to an appropriation by the Utah Legislature to the Utah Department of Transportation for a commuter rail corridor.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 7 Weiser filed this action in 1991. In 1995, the district court granted Weiser's motion for partial summary judgment, finding that the 1870 Railroad Grant was a nullity due to failure to meet the conditions of the Grant. The district court denied Union Pacific's motion to reconsider, and this court dismissed Union Pacific's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. See Weiser v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 932 P.2d 596, 597–98 (Utah 1997). In 2000, Union Pacific again sought reconsideration of the grant of partial summary judgment, based on prior case law affirming the validity of the Railroad Grant in regard to other landowners. The district court granted the motion to reconsider, reversed its prior ruling, and thereafter granted Union Pacific's motion for summary judgment. In doing so, it felt compelled by the doctrine of stare decisis to change its decision. Citing the United States Supreme Court decision in United States v. Northern Pacific Railroad Co., 177 U.S. 435, 20 S.Ct. 706, 44 L.Ed. 836 (1900), the district court held that “lapse of a Land Grant statute before the filing of a profile map only authorizes the federal government to seek forfeiture of the railroad Land Grant” and does not automatically void the Grant. Because the federal government had not challenged the Grant, and had expressly accepted the late-filed map, the district court held that the federal government made effective the land grant in Utah Central Railroad. Further, the district court held that title to the Property received by Weiser's predecessor through federal patent was “of no effect” because it was subsequent to the effective date of the land grant. In so ruling, the district court rejected Weiser's arguments that res judicata and collateral estoppel prevented the court from reversing its own previous ruling.

¶ 8 As part of its rulings on the summary judgment motions, the district court also concluded that Utah Central received not merely a right of way, but a limited fee interest in the Property, subject to reverter back to the federal government if Utah Central or its successors used the Property for an unauthorized purpose. In addition, the district court concluded that the quiet title decree of 1935 was of no effect because a state law action could not circumscribe the rights granted to Utah Central by the United States under the 1870 Railroad Grant. The court also held that sale of the Property to UTA did not trigger reversion because federal law allows a railroad to transfer right-of-way property for similar use to a state department of transportation or its nominee, which it determined UTA was.

¶ 9 On December 5, 2005, the district court held an evidentiary hearing wherein it rejected evidence proffered by Weiser on the issue of pre-emption. Weiser asserts that the proffered evidence would have shown that his predecessor, Tomlinson, filed his declaration of pre-emption against the Property before the Grant to Utah Central was enacted by Congress, thus preserving his rights in the Property and removing it from public land and therefore not subject to the 1870 Railroad Grant. However, the district court refused to consider the evidence, ruling that because the effective date was that of the land patent, not the date of the declaration of pre-emption, the evidence regarding the date of the declaration and steps toward pre-emption was irrelevant. The court did allow Weiser to proffer the evidence for purposes of the record.

¶ 10 Ultimately, on December 21, 2007, the district court entered final judgment determining that Weiser had no remaining interest in the Property and that the Property belonged to Union Pacific. Accordingly, the district court dismissed all of Weiser's state law claims with prejudice. In addition, the court dismissed Union Pacific's claim that it had obtained title to the Property through adverse possession, holding that Union Pacific's interest in the Property lay solely in the federal land grant.

¶ 11 In January 2008, Weiser appealed the judgment of the district court. This court transferred the case to the court of appeals under Utah Code section 78A–3–102(4) (2008). The court of appeals denied motions for summary disposition by both parties. Subsequently, this court vacated the order transferring the case to the court of appeals and recalled the case.

¶ 12 On appeal, Weiser presents seven questions for review, asserting that the district court erred in (1) determining that the effective date of a claim under the Pre-emption Act of 1841 is the date the deed or land patent was conveyed as opposed to when the declaration of pre-emption was first entered; (2) refusing to receive Weiser's proffered evidence that would have established that his predecessor-in-interest had lawfully exercised his right of pre-emption before the 1870 Railroad Grant was made, thereby establishing the subject property as not part of the affected public lands; (3) reversing its prior summary judgment based on reliance on stare decisis instead of applying res judicata and collateral estoppel; (4) concluding that the 1870 Railroad Grant to Utah Central conveyed a limited fee interest in the subject property rather than a lesser right of way or easement; (5) determining that sale of the Property to UTA did not trigger reversion to Weiser; (6) failing to give binding effect to the 1935 district court judgment quieting title of the Property in favor of Weiser's predecessor; and (7) dismissing all of Weiser's state law claims with prejudice. We address each issue in turn.

ANALYSIS

I. WEISER SUFFICIENTLY PRESERVED HIS PRE–EMPTION CLAIM

¶ 13 Weiser first challenges the district court's finding that the effective date of a claim under the Pre-emption Act of 1841 is the date the deed or land patent was conveyed. However, a threshold issue is whether Weiser preserved this claim for appeal. Union Pacific asserts...