Mary L. Brandt and Natalie Z. Shell v. Walter J. Hickel, Secretary of the Interior

On June 12, 1959, Mary Brandt and Natalie Shell submitted a non-competitive oil and gas lease offer to the Los Angeles office of the Bureau of Land Management. On the line of the form provided for designation off offeror, appellants listed their names and also designated their interests as follows: “Mrs. Mary L. Brandt, as to an undivided three-fourths interest and Mrs. Natalie Z. Shell, as to an undivided one-fourth interest.” The Los Angeles office interpreted an Interior Department decision as prohibiting issuance of leases where the offer form designates unequal inter ests and thus issued a decision which provided that:

Although appellants were advised of their right to appeal the decision, they chose to submit another offer form which deleted any reference to unequal interests. Shortly thereafter, one Raymond J. Hansen entered the picture by filing a protest against the issuance of an oil and gas lease to the appellants. Apparently, Hansen’s priority was junior only to that of appellants in that Hansen had filed a lease offer for the identical land described in appellants’ lease offer thirteen days after appellants first filed their offer. The Los Angeles office held against…