Show 1 U S supreme court hears carbon coal land case state fuel firms request tribunal to reverse verdict editors note the no following article ta is reprinted from the salt lake tribune ml and la is an ac count cot of the carbon county land CASI cas which Is now betas being tried in the supreme court at sit washington 0 D 0 the debult of the case Is vitally important to oar car bon county taxpayers and should ibe of interest to readers of the news advocate advocatt the state of utah the carbon county land company ard the in dependent coal coke company ap pealed tuesday to the he united states supreme court to the latest decision deci ilon of the circuit court of ap peals for the tenth circuit in the C carboa a aboa county coal a land a case which has finally resolved itself into a fight between the state and the united states over t tie to acres of as rich coal land jana as it to be found in the state of utah this Is the first time the fate state has come before the supreme court as a party to chiq th litigation it is the third appearance for the land and coal companies arrayed against the three peti came the united states corn com testing the states title as well as denying the claims let set up by the land and the companies the whole suit however binges upon the title claimed by the state and for that reason the two companies stood squarely behind the state in its claim in the expectation that if the state states ownership is establish ed they in turn will benefit through contracts made to acquire this land from irom the st tata t kramp I 1 kg amp nt 41 1 the case bad ua no not been concil concluded ded when the court adjourned donovan opens case william J donovan assistant at torney general under the coolidge administration appeared as counsel for tie the state and opened the ment meat he was followed in tern turn by mahlon E wilson vilson for the In depend ent coal coke company and sam uel A king for the carbon co county anty I 1 and comra company nr solicitor general Ili thatcher atcher had barely begun his rient aen ren court adjourned in outlining the history of this litigation which began with mth the milner suit in 1907 donovan showed that the government in earlier suits had contented itself with assailing the claims of the land laid and coal companies that it had in fact from the beginning conceded that there had leen been no fraud on the part of the state notwithstanding the fraud held against the land compi nv that it had gone so far through its are aral prosecutor as to amrute the state the governments sole interest wi wis to protect the stab against th the fraud of the purchasers at whose instance the state had se leed ted tha the lands la tit question and was quite con tent that title should rest in the state provided the land and coal companies be denied all right or in terest in the lands aft after id tso tv lit lat U d os of ti abo 0 sa preme court the case was wag remanded and the state of utah in 1928 tor for the first time intervened and becane v party over the objection of or the unite united state states government v here upon the united states changed its tactics assailed the state elates Is title an and a I 1 continued Conti aued on page 4 U US S SUPREME COURT HEARS aw CARBON COUNTY COAL LAND CASE continued from page 1 filed a counterclaim against the state U 11 S claims title the government claimed title to the land not only because of fraud incident to the original acquisition of title br the state but on the allegation that lands were known and that the equity decree of 1914 was binding on the state il land at the time the state iIi n UK made the saito won in the lo 10 v er court only to sec see that decision reversed last january by the circuit court of appeal appeals and it is aroi frou ane litter dee decision ision tint thit appeal RIS iak oak en to the suj sul reme court in his rient mr donovan as exerted tie the ducro of 1914 was not binding on the state the state was not lot then a party to the litiza tion nor was jit it a party until 14 rears later his main contention however was that the federal go goi eminent had bad not assailed nor auci tinned the acidity alid ity of the states title within the statutory period an I 1 hit therefore the he statute of limiti limit i eions had bad run chile this land passed to the state by certification an I 1 patent to be the sime same thing tha having failed to ter rise cise its rights if any against the state within six years after the lands landi were corti certified fied to the state lie marn tuned timed the united is now non barred from the state states title furthermore he lie dc do nied the right of the government br other means ta accomplish what it can an not do directly title bame absolute As the statute of limitations rait ra ag dinst the government title in the state he be argued became absolute and the federal government not be ing the ovner of the disputed land can not reeo recover er the land by impress ing n t trint trust on ort the states title to the go government ch chairge irge that the elate state has acquired required title to the land through misrepresentation donovan sit eail I 1 t the ire showing made by the state was wholly holly jn n accord with the tice of that time thit no coal of commercial value wis exposed on the land hit milner ind other aepli canto mide affidavits th tint thit it the binl wis iris non mineral the local laud lata off ice fee in accord with practice accepted el ei that showing shoring mil the flip deportment at washington the record and certified the land to the state it was not until ten ton years later after the doctrine of gc geological inference hal been by the debirt anent and the decision in the ln im nona coal case had been beet hauled down that more rigid proof as to chir character Acter of state sclee tlona was wa required bays says court erred tho the circuit court he maintained had bad erred in adf attempting empting to make the ecological inference rule retroactive it tt further erred in seeking to apply the decision in the milner case to the states tta tei which was w not a party in the litigation liti gatior the independent coal coke tom OB piny according to mahlon wilson its counsel is a AVy wyoming oming corpora tion which developed the kenilworth mine and is interested in 1120 acres out of the total area inalea in the pending suit winch it bought in 1920 from the carbon county land lana company bong beng satisfied investigation th tb 7 laud company had i good title from the state it pro ceeder to work part of tl is I 1 land a n d 2 and a pay taxes on all wilson co contended n t da ahe the transaction vas was an honest and legal one I 1 if it finally be held this land was vas the property of the fie state the coa com iny inny is ready to pa the state what may he be due en on account of mort gage indebtedness plus taxes but if the land to the united baates it is ready to pay any judg ment decreed wilson Pap supported ported the main contentions of mr donovan and stressed the point that the statute of limitations is a prime ei es orential to aery valid title As counsel for the carbon county lind company samuel A king en dei delored ored to divorce the early at tempt of this company to acquire title to the disputed linds from their subsequent pure purchase tase at a higher price his argument briefly was that the disputed lands could not back in 1901 be acquired by tie wrider its grant as mineral lands and no mineral appearing la in commercial quantity on the surface they could not under department tn tion in vgo be bi Penu acquired ired directly as coal lands only on the plan followed ly by milner could title then be obtained it is error ho he held for the courts row rov to challenge those selections on the tile theory that under the rule adopt ed in 1914 the lands would be tw ifield ns as mineral in its first attempt to pur purchase eliase king said his company had nothing more than a contract at 1 50 an acre tha the title to remain with ta tie e state until the pur canse price was fully paid in I 1 1920 how bow ever his bis company made a specific contract to purchase p at a price of an acre action explained this later machon tra was based n the ns that the tile original leil deil le il had been in by the courts and that title to the linis hid hl vested in the state subsequent to the decision of f 14 the decree in the milner case lie he maintained did rot not corver bar tho the from acquiring this lami land coir ty by purchase so fron the state indeed could not interfere with a legitimate legit imite deil between tho the company and the state the remainder of IN s ment was in of that made in behalf of the state in opening for the government govern nent bo so elicitor general thatcher said ewh hat that has been laid said here today is in the fact of post decision decisions of this court edi earlier alier do deri eIons ons he said were adverse both to the land and the coal companies acquitting th the e state of any part in fit tho the original f fraud raud lie ile cited it its willingness in after the value of the land for coal became known to contract to cell sell at an acre what it previous ly had contract contracted to sell for mr thatcher will conclude conc ludo tomor row united states solicitor general thomas D thatcher urged the eu su preme court of the united states wednesday to affirm tho the decree of the circuit court of appeals and re store to the united states title to acres of carbon county coal land claiming that the federal gov was defrauded of the land by reason of false representation made by the milner family who had purchased the land from the state samuel A king representing the carbon county land company made a brief closing statement while attorney gencil george P parker took no part in the proceedings wed ites day A decision on the case is 29 expected soon |