Barbara W. Wolff and Janice Wheeler Tinker v. United States

DAVID A. NELSON, Circuit Judge.

This is an action against the United States to quiet title to a small island in a lake in Northern Michigan. The plaintiffs’ claim derives from an 1871 patent in which the United States conveyed parcels of land adjacent to the lake. The question presented is whether the island was included in the riparian rights that the United States gave up when it patented the littoral land; the plaintiffs contend that the island was included, and the government contends that it was not.

The district court answered the question in the affirmative and entered summary judgment…