United States v. Mottaz (476 U.S. 834)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 11, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 476 U.S. 834 · 106 S. Ct. 2224
- Decided
- June 11, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented by this case is whether respondent’s suit against the United States is time barred. In 1954, the Government sold respondent’s interests in three Indian allotments to the United States Forest Service for inclusion in the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota. Respondent claims that the sale was void. We hold that respondent’s suit is an action “to adjudicate a disputed title to real property in which the United States claims an interest,” within the meaning of the Quiet Title Act of 1972, 28 U. S. C. §2409a(a), and therefore is barred by that Act’s 12-year period of limitations. See 28 U. S. C. §2409a(f). I In 1905, pursuant to the General Allotment Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 388, as amended, 25 U. S. C. §331 et seq. (1982 ed. and Supp. II), and the Nelson Act of 1889, 25 Stat. 642, three Chippewa Indian ancestors of respondent Florence Blacketter Mottaz each received an 80-acre allotment on the Leech Lake Reservation in Cass County, Minn. Title to each of these allotments was held in trust by the United States. Respondent eventually inherited a one-fifth interest in one of the allotments and a one-thirtieth interest in each of the other two. In the early 1950’s, some holders of fractional interests in Leech Lake allotments petitioned the Department of the Interior to permit them to sell their lands. On…
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