United States Tenth Circuit

In a quiet title action brought by Utah against the United States and private landowners in an attempt to assert title to the lakebed of Utah Lake, summary judgment in favor of Utah is affirmed where: 1) the adverse interests asserted by Utah and defendants to the property between the meander lines were sufficient to establish plaintiff's standing; 2) judgment quieting title on the defendants relied on an improper construction of the language of the 4481 stipulation; 3) there was no error in allowing plaintiff to advance the theory that defendants lacked title as a basis for quieting title since plaintiff's claims put them on notice; and 4) defendants' Color of Title Act claim against the federal government does not affect the district court's resolution of the present dispute.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/04/2008
• Published 06/04/2008

Judges

• HENRY, Chief Judge., Before HENRY, Chief Judge, and KELLY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• M. Dayle Jeffs, Jeffs & Jeffs, P.C., Provo, UT, for the Defendant-Appellant Clinger Family Partnership., Michael S. Johnson, Assistant Utah Attorney General (J. Mark Ward, Assistant Utah Attorney General, and Mark L. Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General, with him on the brief), Salt Lake City, UT, for the Plaintiff-Appellee the State of Utah by and through its Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands., W. Cullen Battle, Fabian & Clendenin, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Joro Walker, Western Resource Advocates, Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellees National Audubon, et al.