Ram Petroleums, Inc. v. Cecil Andrus

658 F.2d 1349 RAM PETROLEUMS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Cecil ANDRUS, Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America; Edward W. Stuebing and Douglas E. Henriques, Administrative Judges of the Interior Board of Land Appeals, Defendants-Appellants. No. 79-4886. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted June 10, 1981. Decided Oct. 13, 1981. David C. Shilton, Washington, D. C., for defendants-appellants. Craig R. Carver, Head, Moye, Carver & Ray, Denver, Colo., argued, for plaintiff-appellee; John J. Frankovich, McDonald, Carano, Wilson, Bergin, Bibe, Frankovich & Hicks, Reno, Nev., on brief. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Before SNEED, FLETCHER and POOLE, Circuit Judges. SNEED, Circuit Judge: 1 This is an appeal from a district court order reversing a finding of the Board of Land Appeals of the Department of the Interior ("IBLA" or "Board") that the appellee, Ram, failed to exercise reasonable diligence and thus caused its lease to lapse, when the rental payments for the leases arrived five days late. Jurisdiction was based on Title 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1976). We reverse the district court…