Mullen v. Pickens

Background

In these combined cases an enrolled member of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes died after the Supplemental Agreement was ratified but before an individual allotment was selected. A personal representative made a selection in the deceased member’s name, and others obtained warranty deeds from the heirs that included promises to substitute other land if the original selection failed. The initial selections were set aside in contest proceedings, a different selection was later made, and an allotment issued in the deceased member’s name. Buyers under the earlier deeds sued to claim the later allotted land.

Reasoning

The central question was whether those earlier warranty deeds and substitution covenants could force ownership of land allotted later in the deceased member’s name. The Court explained that under the Supplemental Agreement and related acts, tribal lands remained communal until an allotment was actually selected. Section 22 gives heirs a right that begins at the time of selection, and sections 15 and 16 prohibit conveying an interest in the land before allotment. For the same reasons earlier cases rejected sales of mere expectancies, the Court held prior attempts to sell an allotment expectancy are inconsistent with the Agreement and Congress’s enacted restrictions, and cannot be enforced by estoppel or state law.

Real world impact

The decision means people who buy or accept promises about a possible future allotment cannot claim title before the allotment is selected. It upholds the Oklahoma courts’ judgments and preserves the federal allotment rules for Choctaw and Chickasaw tribal lands, preventing private deals from overriding the statutory scheme.