Opinion ID: 2611904
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: A permittee may be an occupant.

Text: We return to the first question raised by the parties' arguments: whether a permittee holding under a revocable permit may be entitled to a section 14(c) conveyance or whether the permittee's rights are limited by the terms of the permit. Our answer is that the permittee may be entitled to a 14(c) conveyance. The permittee must be an occupant within the meaning of section 14(c)  an occupier with an equitable interest in the improvements  and the purpose of the permittee's occupancy must be one of the purposes recognized by section 14(c)(1) or (2). The Act does not impose as an additional requirement a condition that an occupant not hold under a government lease or permit. Indeed, since the Act mandates conveyances to non-Native residential occupants whose rights are based solely on the fact that they occupy dwellings built on the public domain without a permit, it would be paradoxical to deny a conveyance to residential occupants who have made permitted entries. [19] We conclude therefore that a permittee may be an occupant. The fact that the permittee may also have rights under the permit which are preserved under section 14(g) does not preclude the permittee from receiving a conveyance under section 14(c). Our conclusion on this point comports with the Ninth Circuit's decision in Buettner.