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

Heading: Challenges to the Lower Poorman Claims

Text: The trial court found that the half interest Shropshire retained in the Lower Poorman claims after deeding Miscovich Brothers an undivided one-half interest in 1954 remained valid when Shropshire quitclaimed the claims to Tryck in 1987. The court additionally found that, because brothers John and George Miscovich conveyed their partnership share of Miscovich Brothers' interest in the Lower Poorman claims to Howard Miscovich in 1983, Howard was entitled to three-quarters of Miscovich Brothers' one-half interest (or three-eighths of the total interest); and because Andrew Miscovich had retained his original partnership interest in the claims, the court found that he was entitled to one-quarter of the Miscovich Brothers' half interest (or one-eighth of the total). On appeal, Miscovich disputes the awards to both Tryck and Andrew Miscovich.
It is undisputed that, in 1976, the Lower Poorman federal claims were technically lost by a federal conveyance to the state of the land on which the claims were located. In conveying the land to the state, the federal government neglected to except the Lower Poorman claims. Upon conveyance to the state, the unexcepted federal mining claims were extinguished, and the land became open for anyone to stake new mining claims under state law. Because the Lower Poorman claims were thus lost in 1976, Miscovich maintains that the superior court should not have awarded Tryck any interest in them. Miscovich further argues that when he staked and located the claims under state law in 1987, he acquired sole ownership rights in the Lower Poorman state claims. As a co-owner of the claims with Shropshire, however, Miscovich Brothers  and Miscovich, as a partner in Miscovich Brothers  were barred as a matter of law from using the loss of the federal claims to gain an advantage over Shropshire. It is well established that the co-owners of a claim owe a continuing fiduciary duty to each other regarding the claim, even if the original claim becomes void: Co-owners stand in a relation of mutual trust and confidence to each other. No co-owner will be permitted to act hostilely toward another in regard to their common property, and any distinct title acquired by one will inure to the benefit of all. The body of law applicable to co-owners generally applies with equal force to co-owners of a mining claim. Therefore, a relocation by one co-owner will inure to the benefit of all of the co-owners... . Even when an original location is void, the would-be co-locators are treated as fiduciaries so as to place on each an equitable duty not to act for the benefit of himself to the detriment of the others. 2 American Law of Mining, § 38.03[1] (emphasis added) (citations omitted). When the claims were lost in the federal conveyance to the state, Miscovich owed a continuing fiduciary duty to his brothers and to Shropshire regarding the Lower Poorman claims. Consequently, as the trial court correctly concluded, Miscovich's filing of state claims under the name Miscovich Mining in 1987 must be deemed to have been an act taken for the benefit of all co-owners. The state claims acquired by him inured to the co-owners of the federal claims, Miscovich Brothers and Shropshire. The trial court did not err in awarding a one-half share in the Lower Poorman claims to Tryck.
Howard Miscovich also appeals the superior court's award of a one-eighth interest in the Lower Poorman claims to his brother Andrew based on their partnership interests in Miscovich Brothers. He claims that his and Andrew's respective interests in the Miscovich Brothers partnership were not properly before the court. Thus, he contends that the trial court erred in dividing his and Andrew's respective interests in the partnership's one-half share of the Lower Poorman claims. [6] Miscovich correctly notes that the trial court may not adjudicate issues not raised before or during trial and unsupported by the record. Curran v. Mount, 657 P.2d 389, 392 (Alaska 1982). Miscovich appears to be mistaken, however, in claiming that the determination of his and Andrew's respective interests in the Lower Poorman claims was not an issue properly before the court in the context of Tryck's quiet title action. An action to quiet title is not aimed at a particular instrument, but rather at the pretensions of all individuals claiming adversely. Inquiry is permitted into the whole title of the property in question, the purpose being to enable the plaintiff to quiet his title as against unfounded claims of all nature. Davis v. Tant, 361 P.2d 763, 765-66 (Alaska 1961). Nevertheless, the record in this case establishes that Howard Miscovich's and Andrew Miscovich's interests in the Lower Poorman claims were held by them as partners in Miscovich Brothers. The 1954 deed from Shropshire conveyed an undivided one-half interest in the claims to the Miscovich Brothers partnership, not to its individual partners. In 1983, brothers George and John Miscovich conveyed to Howard their partnership share in the claims, while Andrew Miscovich retained his share. The trial record, however, is devoid of any evidence supporting the conclusion that the Miscovich Brothers partnership was dissolved or that the Lower Poorman claims were withdrawn from the assets of the partnership. From the record it appears that, at the time of trial, Howard and Andrew Miscovich continued to hold their respective interests in the Lower Poorman claims as partners of Miscovich Brothers and that title to the undivided one-half interest conveyed by Shropshire in 1954 remained in Miscovich Brothers. Under the circumstances, title should properly have issued to Miscovich Brothers for its one-half interest in the partnership claims. For this reason, we conclude that the trial court erred in ordering title issued to Howard and Andrew Miscovich individually in proportion to their partnership interests in the claims.