delivered the opinion of the court:
On December 3, 1971, plaintiffs holding various interests in six tracts of land within the outer boundaries of the Point Beyes National Seashore in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco, filed suits alleging taking of these lands by the United 'States. Such suits are said to be for “inverse
At oral argument in June 1974, counsel for plaintiffs announced the settlement of three of the suits, all involving the three neighboring tracts on the Inverness Ridge. The settled suits are No. 853-71, Brenner v. United States, No. 855-71, Mitchell v. United States, and No. 858-71, Williams v. United States. Stipulations of dismissal are on file in all three of those cases, showing that they are dismissed with prejudice in view of the settlement of cases on file in the Northern District of California in which the United States condemned the corresponding parcels.
Still in dispute are the three small tracts enclosed by Tract 02-109, which is now owned by the United States and leased back to Leland S. Murphy, Sr., under a Special Use Permit for his cattle ranching. At the time plaintiff Murphy conveyed Tract 02-109 to the United States in exchange for other Government land near San Diego, he reserved the tracts now in dispute from the deed for Tract 02-109. The first of the three disputed tracts is Tract 02-141, Home Ranch (owned by Drakes Bay Hereford Ranch, Inc., of which Leland S. Murphy, Sr., is sole owner), which houses the headquarters for plaintiff Murphy’s ranch operations and which is split by the Murphy Ranch access road. Nearby Home Ranch is the second of the disputed tracts, Tract 02-142, Duck Club (owned by Hilkovsky, et al., with a reserved security interest in Leland S. Murphy, Sr.). Access to the Duck Club is by the Murphy Ranch road. The third tract in dispute is Tract 02-143, Simset Beach, still owned directly by plaintiff Leland S. Murphy, Sr, Sunset Beach is the only
The first issue is plaintiffs’ reliance on collateral estoppel to establish United States’ liability for taking, based upon Drakes Bay Land Co. v. United States,
The Supreme Court in Blonder-Tongue Laboratories v. University of Illinois Foundation,
•Lower courts that have dealt with the problem of mutuality of estoppel have established other requirements to be met before these courts have disregarded the lack of mutuality of estoppel. In Schwartz v. Public Administrator of the County of Bronx,
In this case plaintiffs fail everbody’s first test — identity of issue. By plaintiffs’ own admissions at oral argument: A. different, non-adjoining tracts of land are involved; B. the alleged taking dates are different (1963 for Drakes Bay Land Co., some unidentified subsequent date for plaintiffs’ lands); C. the use of the lands are different (plaintiffs’ admit that it is uneconomical for them to subdivide their small plots of land, whereas in Drakes Bay Land Co., we held that the Government taking resulted from defendant’s deliberate
Plaintiffs’ claim of collateral estoppel based on Drakes Bay Land Co., also fails because the six-year statute of limitations (28 U.S.C. § 2501) on the collateral estoppel theory started to run on the date of taking in Drakes Bay Land Co., and had expired before plaintiffs filed their suits on December 3, 1971. United States v. Dickinson,
Even within the six-year period of the statute of limitations, December 3,1965 to December 3,1971, plaintiffs have failed to establish any taking of their lands. Defendant has shown and plaintiffs have not denied that plaintiffs used and enjoyed their lands up to the filing of these suits in the same manner that they had always used and enjoyed these lands. Home Banch always was the headquarters of plaintiff’s ranching operations. Sunset Beach remains, as plaintiff long
Therefore, since the affidavits and depositions submitted in this case establish no material issue of fact for the period ending December 3,1971, since plaintiffs have failed to prove specific facts required to establish a Government taking of their lands during the period between December 3,1965 and December 3, 1971, since plaintiffs have incorrectly alleged collateral estoppel, and since the statute of limitations bars all claims of defendant’s taking of plaintiffs’ lands prior to December 3, 1965, summary judgment for defendant on the issue of liability for taking of plaintiffs’ lands for the period ending December 3,1971, is appropriate and will issue under Rule 101 (f). Concomitantly, since the court finds no taking of plaintiffs’ lands as alleged by plaintiffs, summary judgment will issue for plaintiffs on defendant’s counterclaim for liability for the use of Government lands for the same period ending December 3,1971. Judgment and dismissal of these cases are without prejudice to present or future condemnation or taking actions involving any or all of the same tracts of land, alleging dates of taking subsequent to December 3, 1971. The defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted, and the petitions and counterclaims are dismissed.
