American Land Co. v. Zeiss

In April 1906, San Francisco, California, suffered significant damage from earthquakes and the resulting fires. Many land records were destroyed. In an effort to reestablish title of land throughout the city, in June the California legislature passed an act requiring landowners and those in possession of land to appear before a properly convened tribunal to establish title through a judicial proceeding. The legislation required that notice for these proceedings be provided by publication in a newspaper at least once a week for two months, by posting notice conspicuously on each parcel of the subject property, and by recording the claim and legal description with the recorder’s office. In December, Louis Zeiss (defendant) obtained a judgment and decree from the superior court establishing that he had fee simple interest in real property located in San Francisco. Subsequently, American Land Company (plaintiff), a nonresident landowner, filed a bill in equity against Zeiss to remove a cloud on title and to quiet title of the property. American Land argued that California’s legislature did not have the authority to establish the judicial-title-proceeding process and that the process violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution by depriving landowners of their due-process rights. Moreover, American Title noted that it was not made a defendant in Zeiss’s action to establish ownership and only received notice of the action one year after the court’s decree was entered. American Title further argued that the notice procedures were not sufficient and should not apply to nonresident landowners. The Ninth Circuit certified the issues raised by American Title—whether the legislation violated the Fourteenth Amendment and whether American Title was deprived of property without due process—to the United States Supreme Court.