Opinion ID: 2612907
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: flpma.

Text: Miscovich also advances an argument based on the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), 43 U.S.C. § 1701-84 (1988). Enacted in 1976, FLPMA required owners of unpatented federal mining claims to file certain instruments by October 21, 1979, and annually thereafter. Under FLPMA, failure to comply with the filing requirement constitutes abandonment. [2] Miscovich argues that Shropshire lost all right to the mining claims in 1979 by failing to comply with the filing requirements of FLPMA. According to Miscovich, Shropshire therefore had no remaining interest in the claims when he purported to terminate the Miscovich Brothers lease and to convey the claims to Tryck. Miscovich thus contends that he acquired ownership of the claims himself in 1989, when he staked and filed state location notices on the same land, in his own name, shortly after Tryck filed the quiet title action. At trial, Tryck took the position that the assessment notices Miscovich had filed annually on the claims had substantially complied with the filing requirements of FLPMA, thereby preserving the claims. In resolving this issue, the trial court deferred to the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM); the court stated that [t]his question is one which is peculiarly within the agency's specialized field. BLM, in response to an inquiry from Miscovich's attorney, concluded that the claims had not been abandoned through noncompliance with FLPMA, stating that, there is sufficient documentation in the mining claim recordation files to comply with the filing requirements of FLPMA. [3] Given BLM's expertise regarding this issue, the trial court could properly rely on the agency's finding of compliance with FLPMA. BLM's determination appears to be well reasoned, and Miscovich has advanced no ground for rejecting it. Under the circumstances, the trial court could properly find that Shropshire's Upper Poorman claims remained valid after the enactment of FLPMA. Furthermore, even if Shropshire had lost the Upper Poorman claims through noncompliance with FLPMA, Tryck's right to title would not have been defeated by Miscovich's subsequent filing of state claims on the same land. As noted in the treatise, American Law of Mining, One who has contracted or agreed to perform annual assessment work on a claim cannot, by relocating it after his failure to do the work, acquire any interest adverse to that of the prior claimant. Courts have either held his location void, or held him to be trustee for the benefit of the prior locator. 2 American Law of Mining, § 38.03[4] (citing Soule v. Johnson, 34 Idaho 439, 201 P. 834 (1921); O'Neill v. Otero, 15 N.M. 707, 113 P. 614 (1910); Argentine Mining Co. v. Benedict, 18 Utah 183, 55 P. 559 (1898)). Here, Shropshire leased the Upper Poorman claims to Miscovich Brothers in May 1955. The lease, by requiring Miscovich Brothers to perform all the annual assessment work required to be done under law, during the term of th[e] lease, plainly imposed on Miscovich the duty of compliance with FLPMA once that statute became effective. Because any loss of interest Shropshire might have incurred due to noncompliance with FLPMA would have resulted from Miscovich Brothers' failure to perform its duties under the lease, Miscovich was barred from acquiring any interest adverse to Shropshire's on the same claims. The same conclusion holds for the Lower Poorman claims, as to which Miscovich occupied the position of co-owner due to Shropshire's 1954 conveyance of a one-half interest to Miscovich Brothers. It is settled that a relocation by one co-owner will inure to the benefit of all of the co-owners, and that relocation [by a fiduciary] is held void as against the prior claimant. 2 American Law of Mining, § 38.03[1]-[3]. Under the circumstances, any title Miscovich obtained upon relocating state claims on the same land as the original federal claims would be deemed to be held in constructive trust for the original claimant, Shropshire, and for Shropshire's successor in interest, Tryck. 2 American Law of Mining, § 38.03[1]-[4].