Underwood Livestock, Inc. v. United States

79 Fed. Cl. 486, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 377, 2007 WL 4239052
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedNovember 29, 2007
DocketNo. 05-0162L
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 79 Fed. Cl. 486 (Underwood Livestock, Inc. 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
Underwood Livestock, Inc. v. United States, 79 Fed. Cl. 486, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 377, 2007 WL 4239052 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

WILLIAMS, Judge.

This Fifth Amendment taking case comes before the Court on the parties’ motions for summary judgment. The alleged taking involves a water diversion structure consisting of an earthen dam, reinforced with 19 stacked heavy equipment rubber tires, some 69 feet in length, impounding water in the creek flowing down Underwood Canyon in Nevada. Plaintiff Underwood Livestock, Inc. (“Underwood”) alleges that the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) obstructed its use of its water rights by removing its water diversion structure and fencing and barricading the surrounding area. Plaintiff contends that by these actions, BLM prevented it from accessing its water rights, thereby unlawfully taking its real and personal property. Plaintiff alleges that this taking prevented it from raising feed for livestock, resulting in lost earnings of at least $300,000.

In order to prevail in this taking case, Plaintiff must establish that it had a cognizable property interest. The Interior Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”) adjudicated the property ownership issue at the heart of this case, concluding that there was no right-of-way which authorized construction or maintenance of the tire dam on federal land and finding that the builders of the dam—Underwood’s predecessors in interest—had trespassed. In light of this IBLA decision, which is binding unless overturned by a court of competent jurisdiction, Plaintiff cannot establish it had a cognizable property interest in the right-of-way. Because this Court [488]*488lacks jurisdiction to review decisions of the IBLA, Plaintiff is precluded from challenging the IBLA’s determination of this property ownership issue in this forum. Rather, under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), the exclusive forum for such review is the district court. As such, following the Federal Circuit’s decision in Aulston v. United States, 823 F.2d 510 (Fed.Cir.1987), this Court stays this action, so that Plaintiff or its owner may pursue such a challenge in district court.1

Background2

Plaintiff is a Nevada Corporation formed on December 29, 1989. Pl.’s Mot. Ex. A. Dalton Wilson is Underwood’s owner, President, sole shareholder, and sole employee. Amend. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 7; Pl.’s Mot. Ex. A (Aff. of Dalton Wilson, Mar. 26, 2006 H1); Def.’s Mot. Ex. A, (Wilson Dep. at 13-14, Feb. 28, 2002). Wilson is not a party to this litigation in his personal capacity.

Nevada’s 1917 Grant of a Water Permit 4613 and a Certificate of Appropriation of Water for the “Brackney Water Diversion Structure”

In 1917, Thomas Brackney filed an application with the Nevada State Engineer, Division of Water Resources, for a permit to appropriate water from Underwood Canyon for irrigation and domestic purposes, stating that the appropriated water would be used for “irrigation, stock, and domestic purposes” and that the water would “be diverted by means of small earth and rock dam, and conveyed to the land by means of ditches, and laterals.”3 Def.’s Mot. Ex. G at 2, 3. The application indicated that water would be diverted at a point described as “Underwood Canyon S.W. 1/4 of N.E. 1/4 of Sec. 12, T. 22 N., R 47 E., M.D.B. & M.” Id. at 2. The Nevada State Engineer approved the application on February 25, 1919, and granted Brackney a permit to appropriate water, known as “Permit 4613.” Id. at 3.

Pursuant to Nevada law, on or about April 16,1919, Brackney filed an Affidavit of Labor and Improvements for Permit 4613 with the State Engineer to perfect his water right. This Affidavit described the water diversion structure that he had created under Permit 4613 as follows:

at least Three Hundred dollars ($300) has been expended in work or improvements performed or made under the conditions provided in Permit No. 4613, and at the expense of the applicant. Said improvements consisted of Earth dam constructed at about NE corner Section 6, T, 22 N., R. 48 E, and ditch constructed through said section approximately to SE $ of NW 1/4 Section 12, T. 22 N., 4R, 47.E.

Def.’s Mot. Ex. H. Subsequently, in or about the 1920s, a pipeline of uncertain origin was installed in part of the ditch. Def.’s Mot. Ex. I (Declaration of Gail Givens) (“Givens Dec!.”) at HH 3-4.4 In addition, it appears that a spring box was also erected in connection with this improvement. 156 IBLA at 97, n. 11.

Several years later, on June 17, 1930, the State Engineer issued a Certificate of Appropriation of Water (Certificate 1656) to Brack-ney, which indicated the appropriation of water related to Permit 4613 was a vested water right. Specifically, the Certificate afforded Brackney and his suceessors-in-inter-est the right to divert 0.323 cubic feet per second (“cfs”) of surface waters of the Canyon during the period from April 1 to October 1 of each year from a point of diversion situated in NW 1/4 NE 1/4 sec. 7 T. 22 N., [489]*489R. 48 E., Mount Diablo Meridian, Lander County, Nevada, and to use such waters for irrigation and domestic purposes on appurtenant lands described in the Certificate. Def.’s Mot. Ex. G at 1.

1924 Land Patent and Lease Agreement

Meanwhile, on February 19, 1924, the United States issued a patent to Braekney under the Act of Congress of May 20, 1862, Ch. 75 § 1,12 Stat. 392, a homestead act, for 80 acres of land described as the “south half of the northwest quarter of Section twelve in Township twenty-two north of Range forty-seven east of the Mount Diablo Meridian, Nevada, containing eighty acres____” Def.’s Mot. Ex. J. The patent provided in pertinent part:

NOW KNOW YE, That there is, therefore, granted by the United States unto the said claimant the tract of Land, ... with the appurtenances thereof, unto the said claimant and to the heirs and assigns of the said claimant forever; subject to any vested and accrued water rights for mining, agricultural manufacturing, or other purposes, and rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may be recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and decisions of courts; and there is reserved from the lands hereby granted a right-of-way thereon for ditches or canals constructed by the authority of the United States.

156 IBLA at 95, Def.’s Mot. Ex. J, (emphasis added).

Wilson’s Purchase of the Land in 1981

In 1980, Dalton Wilson purchased the same 80 acres of land, with an appurtenant Nevada water right, Certificate 1656. Pl.’s Mot. Ex. A, (Declaration of Dalton Wilson, Sept. 26, 2002 (“Wilson Decl.”) at Hit 2, 6).5

The 1989 Foreclosure By Western Farm Credit Bank

Wilson testified in a declaration that in 1981 he “allowed a friend named Gary Sprouse, doing business as S & H ranches, to use [Wilson’s] land and appurtenant water rights appropriated under Certificate 1656 to secure an operating loan for [Sprouse’s] benefit with the Federal Land Bank of Sacramento.” Wilson Decl. H14. Subsequently, Sprouse defaulted on the loan, and the lender commenced foreclosure proceedings on Wilson’s property. Id. 111121-22.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 Fed. Cl. 486, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 377, 2007 WL 4239052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/underwood-livestock-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.