Locken v. Locken

OPINION

This case focuses upon a dispute between a father and son over the ownership of land. In satisfaction of certain indebtedness owed to the respondent father by a third party, the father agreed to accept an assignment of two patent applications for separate parcels of land. Since the Desert Land Act, 43 U.S.C. § 321 (1964), prohibited the father from making more than one entry in his own name, at the suggestion of his son, the parties verbally agreed to place one of the applications in the son’s name. Under this agreement, the father was to make certain improvements upon the land, and…