Creek Nation v. United States

Background

A Native nation (land granted to the Creek Nation in 1833) sued after an 1872 survey error put over 5,000 acres into land set aside for other tribes. Those tribes later ceded the land and, under an 1891 law, unallotted land was opened to settlement. Because of the earlier survey error, parcels belonging to the Native nation were allotted and patented to Sac and Fox Indians and sold to settlers between 1893 and 1909. The patentees then held the land adversely. The tribe sued in 1926 seeking compensation for the taking.

Reasoning

The central question was when the Government’s wrongful disposals became a taking and what date should be used to value the land. The Court said the 1873 approval of the erroneous survey did not itself take the land. Instead, the erroneous application of the 1891 law and the later issuance of patents to others produced the taking. The Court held the owner is entitled to the full equivalent of the land’s value as of each parcel’s patent date (or the certificate date if patents were delayed). To ease the work on remand, courts may use a fair approximation or average of values rather than compute each tract in painful detail.

Real world impact

The ruling reverses the lower court and sends the case back for the Government to pay compensation measured by the patent or certificate dates. The decision affects the tribe’s recovery and how courts compute damages for similar mistaken allotments. The judgment is not a final payment order; the case is remanded for further proceedings to determine exact amounts.