United States v. 422,978 Square Feet of Land, in the City and County of San Francisco, and Unknown Owners, State of California, And

This is an appeal from an order of the district court dismissing a complaint in condemnation. The State of California appeared in the action as an owner claiming rights in the subject property and resisted the motion of the United States to dismiss. The State’s appeal raises questions of whether the United States exercised a navigational easement in connection with the subject property and whether the statute of limitations under the Tucker Act ran against the State. We affirm.

On November 18, 1940, the United States entered and took physical possession of submerged lands in San Francisco Bay, including a wharf facility, then designated Facility No. 70, located on the submerged land and owned by the State. Possession of the land was taken for use of the United States in connection with the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, designated Facilities No. 68 and 70, it was constructing on adjacent uplands.

In 1944, the State requested that the United States enter into a lease providing for payment of rental for its occupancy of the property. In the ensuing communications concerning a lease, the United States refused to agree to anything more than a nominal rental. The United States…