Blanche W. Peterson v. James G. Watt, Secretary of the Interior, Etc.

The dispositive question in this appeal is whether this court should vacate a portion of the district court’s decision because it purported to decide a claim never actually asserted or litigated between co-defendants.

In 1958 Blanche and Flay Peterson purchased land on the east bank of the Colorado River in Arizona. The Colorado River subsequently moved eastward. Believing that they were entitled to the land that eventually emerged on the west bank in Nevada, the Petersons filed a complaint in 1972 seeking to quiet title to that land. The United States, as riparian owner of the land on the west bank of the Colorado River, was named as defendant. Because in 1966 the United States had contracted to sell to the State of Nevada all its interest in some 15,000 acres in the area, Nevada was subsequently joined as a party defendant. At that time Nevada claimed only an executory interest based upon its contractual right to purchase the land from the United States. It made no claim of title and had no colorable claim under the then current state of the law. See Bonelli Cattle Co. v. Arizona, 414 U.S. 313 , 94 S.Ct. 517 , 38 L.Ed.2d 526 (1973).

On the first day of trial in this matter,…