Mannatt v. United States

48 Fed. Cl. 148, 2000 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 2000 WL 1661397
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedNovember 6, 2000
DocketNo. 98-689L
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 Fed. Cl. 148 (Mannatt v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mannatt v. United States, 48 Fed. Cl. 148, 2000 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 2000 WL 1661397 (uscfc 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

FUTEY, Judge.

This case is before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, or, in the alternative, for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Ellen Mannatt, Robert Man-natt, and Bruce Mather (plaintiffs) claim that the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has improperly conducted a resurvey of their lands, resulting in takings of their property by inverse condemnation. The United States government (defendant), proceeding on behalf of BLM, argues that (1) the court must dismiss the action because plaintiffs’ claims are essentially for quiet title in the disputed lands, and therefore cannot be addressed in takings claims before this court; (2) the Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2409a (1994) (QTA), is the only means by which plaintiffs may have their property interests determined, and a QTA action must be brought in federal district court; (3) plaintiffs have not exhausted their administrative remedies with BLM; and (4) the basis for plaintiffs’ takings claims is a resurvey, which is a government agency action that cannot give rise to a taking under the Fifth Amendment. Plaintiffs argue that their property interests can be determined by this court, because theirs are not claims for title, but for just compensation for the taking of their property.

Factual Background

Located in Inyo County, California, the Fort Independence Indian Reservation (Reservation) is the result of two executive orders dated October 28, 1915, and April 29, 1916. The Reservation was created with the restriction that such creation would not impinge the property rights of private persons. Defendant, as trustee for the Fort Independence Indians, owns the real property that comprises the Reservation. Plaintiffs own lands adjacent to the Reservation, such ownership deriving from a land patent granted in 1885 (Mannati/Mather Lot). Plaintiffs’ lands run along the northern border of the Reservation. Plaintiffs also claim ownership, pursuant to a land patent granted in 1923, of another lot that is located southwest of the Mannatl/Mather Lot and is bordered by the Reservation on three sides (Mannatt Lot).

Plaintiffs allege that in 1992 Daniel Miller, Jr., the individual in possession of the Reservation lands adjacent to the Mannatt/Mather Lot, unilaterally moved a fence marking the northern boundary of the Reservation approximately 15 feet to the north, thus reducing the total area of the lot. A dispute over the boundary ensued, and in 1994 BLM began a survey of the lands in question to determine the proper boundary of the Reservation. BLM relied upon this “dependent resurvey,”1 as it is referred to by defendant, to decide that the proper boundary for the Reservation was in fact 15 feet further north than previously believed. It therefore allowed the new boundary, marked by the fence moved north 15 feet by Mr. Miller, to remain. BLM claimed that the disputed property was in fact public land of the United States held in trust for the Fort Independence Indians. The resurvey also altered the boundaries of the Mannatt Lot, moving the eastern boundary 10 feet to the west, and therefore reducing the size of that lot as well.

Plaintiffs assert that this resurvey was in fact an “independent resurvey,” or a survey conducted independent of previous boundary [151]*151lines, because earlier surveys conducted in 1903 and 1912 placed the boundary of the Mannatt/Mather Lot at a line of “old locust trees,” a line located south of the new boundary determined by the 1994 resurvey. Plaintiffs also aver that the BLM resurvey ignored the boundaries created by the 1923 land patent for the Mannatt Lot. Plaintiffs maintain this independent resurvey violates the statute prohibiting the executive branch, including its agencies, from enlarging the boundaries of Indian reservations. Act of Mar. 3,1927, ch. 299, § 4, 44 Stat. 1347,1347. Only Congress has the power to make such changes. Id.

In 1992, plaintiffs filed claims in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Plaintiffs eventually filed their Third Amended Complaint, which included the boundary dispute claims and claims for inverse condemnation under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment. The district court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims on the boundary dispute and transferred the inverse condemnation claims to this court. Mannatt v. United States, 951 F.Supp. 172 (E.D.Cal.1996), aff'd 185 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 1999), cert. denied 528 U.S. 1138, 120 S.Ct. 983, 145 L.Ed.2d 933 (2000).

Discussion

In ruling on a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under RCFC 12(b)(1), the court must accept as true the complaint’s undisputed factual allegations and construe the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); see also Hamlet v. United States, 873 F.2d 1414, 1416 (Fed.Cir.1989); Farmers Grain Co. v. United States, 29 Fed.Cl. 684, 686 (1993). A plaintiff must make only a prima facie showing of jurisdictional facts through the submitted material in order to defeat a motion to dismiss. See Raymark Indus. v. United States, 15 Cl.Ct. 334, 338 (1988) (citing Data Disc, Inc. v. Sys. Tech. Assocs., Inc., 557 F.2d 1280, 1285 (9th Cir.1977)). If the undisputed facts reveal any possible basis on which the non-moving party might prevail, the court must deny the motion. See Scheuer, 416 U.S. at 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683; see also Lewis v. United States, 32 Fed.Cl. 59, 62 (1994). If, however, the motion challenges the truth of the jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint, the court may consider relevant evidence in order to resolve the factual dispute. See Rocovich v. United States, 933 F.2d 991, 994 (Fed.Cir.1991); see also Lewis, 32 Fed.Cl. at 62.

In the alternative, the court will grant a motion brought under RCFC 12(b)(4), for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, only if it appears beyond a doubt that plaintiff has failed to allege facts sufficient to support its claim. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Mostowy v. United States, 966 F.2d 668, 672 (Fed.Cir.1992). In ruling on a RCFC 12(b)(4) motion to dismiss, the court must accept as true the complaint’s undisputed factual allegations and should construe them in a light most favorable to plaintiff. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 283, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986) (citing Scheuer, 416 U.S. at 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683; Gould, Inc. v. United States, 935 F.2d 1271, 1274 (Fed.Cir.1991)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 Fed. Cl. 148, 2000 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 2000 WL 1661397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mannatt-v-united-states-uscfc-2000.