United States v. Earl F. Emmons and Andreas Corporation

The United States filed a complaint in ejectment, to quiet title, for cancellation of an instrument, and for damages, alleging it was the holder of fee simple title in trust to certain allotted Indian land, for the benefit of one Lorene Wel-mas McGlamary, a member of the Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Band of Mission Indians. She had made an “approved lease,” dated April 1, 1955 with appellee Emmons, but Emmons had made an unapproved assignment to Andreas Corporation, and an unapproved “side agreement” dated October 31, 1956, with Mc-Glamary agreeing to a fifty year extension of the lease.

The statute pertinent to this transaction provided that any conveyance of the Indian lands, “or any contract touching the same” during the trust period, “shall be absolutely null and void.” Act of January 12, 1891; 26 Stat. 712 § 5.

The trial court found the side agreement “touched the land,” and was void as against the United States; but specifically refused to make any ruling “concerning the validity of the side agreement as between McGlamary and defendants,” inasmuch as McGlamary was not a party to the litigation.

The government protests that the side agreement must be found void for all…