Zweigel v. Webster
| Citation | 32 F. Supp. 1015 |
| Decision Date | 27 April 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 4802.,4802. |
| Parties | ZWEIGEL v. WEBSTER et al. (UNITED STATES, Intervener). |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Oklahoma |
I. O. Correll and John Allen Phillips, both of Atoka, Okl., for plaintiff.
Cleon A. Summers, U. S. Atty., and Charles N. Champion, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Muskogee, Okl., for defendants and the United States.
The plaintiff instituted this suit to quiet his title to "the Northeast Quarter (NE¼) of the Northwest Quarter (NW¼), Section One (1), Township Three (3) South, Range Ten (10) East, containing forty (40) acres, located in Atoka County, State of Oklahoma," claiming title by virtue of a resale tax deed from the State of Oklahoma, said lands having been sold for taxes for the years 1932, 1933, 1934, and 1935. By appropriate procedure the United States government was made a party and the cause removed from the State court, in which it was filed, to this court. By its petition in intervention filed herein in its own behalf and on behalf of the heirs at law of Summie Webster, deceased, a full-blood Choctaw Indian, the government seeks to cancel said resale tax deed and further seeks an order of this court that said lands are exempt from taxation. In its brief filed herein the government contends that only an undivided two-thirds interest in said lands is exempt from taxation, and seeks a cancellation of the resale tax deed in so far as a two-thirds interest is concerned.
The facts herein were stipulated and disclose that the lands in question were a portion of the homestead allotment of Summie Webster, a full-blood member of the Choctaw Tribe of Indians; that Summie Webster died on July 8, 1929, leaving as his heirs a wife, Agnes Webster, also a full-blood Choctaw Indian, and two children born since March 4, 1906, unenrolled, and who received no allotments of land. On January 2, 1929, Summie Webster selected one hundred acres of his allotted lands, situated in Stephens County Oklahoma, as tax exempt under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved May 10, 1928, 45 Statutes at Large, page 495. This selection was approved by the Secretary of the Interior. On June 6, 1936, the Assistant Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes selected sixty acres of lands out of the allotted lands of Summie Webster, situated in Atoka County, as tax exempt. This sixty acres did not include the forty acres involved herein. The selection by the Assistant Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on July 2, 1936. The selection and approval was made and done on behalf of Summie Webster, the officials not knowing that Summie was dead. The stipulations further disclose that Agnes Webster, the surviving wife of Summie, selected one hundred sixty acres of her own allotment as tax exempt. The date of the resale tax deed is April 29, 1936. The validity of the resale tax deed is not questioned on any ground other than that the lands in question were not subject to taxation.
No selection from their inherited and restricted lands of one hundred sixty acres to remain exempt from taxation was ever made by either of the unenrolled heirs of Summie Webster, nor has the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes ever made the selection for them. How does this affect the status of the lands as regards taxation by the State of Oklahoma?
The applicable Act of Congress was approved May 10, 1928, 45 Statutes 495. By Sections 1 and 2 of the above Act, Congress extended existing restrictions on the allotted and inherited lands of Indian members of the Five Civilized Tribes for twenty-five years from April 26, 1931. Section 3 of said Act provided for taxation of all minerals, including oil and gas produced from such restricted lands of said Indians, by both federal and state authorities. Section 4 of said Act relates to taxation of the lands of such Indians within the State of Oklahoma and is as follows: .
Had Congress not included Section 4 in the above Act, none of the restricted lands of the Indians within the State of Oklahoma would have been subject to taxation, for the power to tax by the State of Oklahoma would have been inconsistent with restrictions upon alienation by Congress. See United States v. Rickert, 188 U.S. 432, 23 S.Ct. 478, 47 L.Ed. 532; United States v. Shock, C.C., 187 F. 870,...
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United States v. Thurston County, Neb.
...opinion would have grave doubt about it. But it appears to be settled by persuasive authority in favor of the plaintiff. Zweigel v. Webster, D.C.Okl., 32 F.Supp. 1015; Seber v. Board of County Commissioners, D.C., 38 F.Supp. 731; Muskogee County, Oklahoma v. United States, 10 Cir., 133 F.2d......
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Seber v. BOARD OF COUNTY COM'RS
...with the County Clerk, this court agrees with the conclusions reached by Judge Rice of the Eastern District in the case of Zweigel v. Webster, D.C., 32 F.Supp. 1015, that the same is wholly The motion to dismiss is accordingly overruled, with exceptions allowed the defendants. ...
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United States v. WEWOKA CREEK W. & S. CON. DIST. NO. 2 OF OKL.
...with a view to giving effect to each in carrying out the intention of the legislature as manifested in the entire Act. Zweigel v. Webster, D.C., 32 F. Supp. 1015. The manifest intent of Congress by portions of the Act of May 10, 1928, and January 27, 1933, was to preserve to the Indian ward......
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BOARD OF COUNTY COM'RS v. United States
...224 U.S. 665, 32 S.Ct. 565, 56 L.Ed. 941. 2 United States v. Rickert, 188 U.S. 432, 438, 23 S.Ct. 478, 47 L.Ed. 532; Zweigel v. Webster, D.C., E.D.Okl., 32 F.Supp. 1015. Cf. United States v. Shock, C.C., E.D.Okl., 187 F. 870; Marcy v. Board of Commissioners of Seminole County, 45 Okl. 1, 14......