Nesbitt v. United States

Background

A group of claimants sought $1,950 from the United States for 18 mules and 29 horses they said Sioux Indians took on about July 25, 1864. They filed a claim in the Interior Department on March 2, 1891, before the Indian Depredation Act of 1891 passed. The Government argued the claim was not “pending” before the Secretary of the Interior because the required evidence had not been presented before the new law took effect.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the affidavit and statements filed with the Interior Department amounted to the kind of “evidence” the 1891 law required to make an older claim pending. The Court looked to an 1872 law and the Interior Department’s rules, which required a sworn declaration plus depositions of two or more witnesses with personal knowledge. The Court found the claim included only one deposition and promises of other witness affidavits, not the required depositions. The Court therefore held the claim was not properly pending before the Secretary and that a later provision letting the court consider departmental papers did not excuse the earlier requirement.

Real world impact

The decision means older depredation claims must meet the Interior Department’s evidence rules before they can be treated as pending and heard in court. The ruling was procedural: it bars the claim from being considered by the court for lack of the required evidence, and it is not a decision on whether compensation would be owed on the merits.