## Facts

- A researcher affiliated with Black Hills Institute discovered a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil (“Sue”) on ranch land held by the United States in trust for Maurice Williams, an Indian allottee.
- Black Hills began excavating the fossil and purported to buy from Williams excavation rights for $5,000.
- After removal, Black Hills transported the ten-ton fossil to its facilities for preparation and restoration.
- Federal agents seized the fossil during an investigation of potential federal violations and placed it in the custody of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology under court supervision.
- Black Hills filed a quiet-title action seeking possession, asserting the fossil was Williams’s personal property and freely transferable.
- The district court entered judgment for the United States, holding title to the fossil in trust for Williams and concluding the purported transfer to Black Hills was ineffective without required federal approval.
- The district court also imposed Rule 11 sanctions on Black Hills’ counsel for naming the School of Mines as a defendant despite its custodial role.

## Issues

1. Whether an unexcavated fossil embedded in Indian trust land is an “interest in land” subject to federal restrictions on alienation, requiring approval by the Secretary of the Interior for any valid transfer.
2. Whether the district court properly imposed Rule 11 sanctions on counsel for joining the School of Mines as a defendant when it had physical custody of the fossil.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the judgment quieting title in the United States as trustee for Williams.
- The court held the embedded fossil was part of the real property before excavation; any conveyance of rights to remove it was a transfer of an interest in trust land requiring Secretarial approval.
- Because the transaction lacked required approval, the purported sale/permission from Williams to Black Hills was void, and Black Hills acquired no valid ownership interest.
- The court reversed the Rule 11 sanctions, finding the joinder of the School of Mines was not objectively baseless given its possession of the fossil.

## Legal Principles

- A fossil embedded in the ground is treated as part of the land (real property) prior to excavation.
- On Indian trust land, transfers of any interest in the land—including embedded resources—are restricted and generally require approval of the Secretary of the Interior; unapproved transfers are void.
- Rule 11 sanctions require objective unreasonableness; joining a party that has custody of disputed property can be reasonable and nonfrivolous.

## Conclusion

The court held that the United States retained trust title to the fossil because an embedded fossil is an interest in Indian trust land that could not be transferred without Secretarial approval, and it set aside sanctions against counsel because suing the court-appointed custodian was a plausible litigation choice.


Black Hills Inst. of Geological Rsch. v. S.D. Sch. of Mines & Tech., 12 F.3d 737 (8th Cir. 1993)