## Facts

- Reed Gilmore applied for a federal oil and gas lease under the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) simultaneous filing system and was selected in the random drawing.
- BLM mailed Gilmore a decision enclosing lease forms and directing that the applicant “manually sign and date” each copy and file properly executed forms within 30 days of receipt; failure would result in rejection without further notice.
- Gilmore received the decision on August 29, 1987, making September 28, 1987 the deadline.
- Gilmore manually signed the lease forms and mailed them by certified mail on September 21, 1987, but BLM did not receive them by the deadline.
- On September 28, 1987, after learning BLM had not received the originals, Gilmore’s office delivered a faxed copy of the signed lease form to BLM.
- On September 29, 1987, BLM rejected the offer for failure to file an original manually signed lease form within the 30-day period.
- The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) affirmed, treating timely submission of a manually signed lease form as a substantive requirement mandating per se rejection for noncompliance.
- The district court affirmed the IBLA; Gilmore appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a faxed lease form, lacking an original handwritten signature on the document received by BLM, satisfies the requirement that a lease offer be manually signed and filed within 30 days.
2. Whether the government is estopped from rejecting the lease offer due to mail delay and the applicant’s good-faith efforts to comply.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment upholding the IBLA and BLM.
- A telecopied lease form did not satisfy the requirement of an original manual signature filed within the 30-day compliance period.
- Missing the deadline for filing the manually signed lease form violated a substantive condition of the leasing program and justified per se rejection of the offer.
- Estoppel against the government was denied because there was no showing of affirmative misconduct by agency officials.

## Legal Principles

- When regulations and agency instructions require a lease offer to be manually signed and filed within a stated compliance period, the agency may reject an offer that does not result in timely receipt of an original handwritten signature.
- A substantive regulatory condition of eligibility in a federal benefits or leasing program may be enforced by per se rejection upon noncompliance.
- Judicial review of the agency’s action proceeds under Administrative Procedure Act standards; agency interpretation of its governing regulations receives substantial deference.
- Estoppel against the United States is available, if at all, only under strict limits and generally requires affirmative misconduct; reliance on mail delivery and good-faith efforts, without government misconduct, is insufficient.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit held that BLM properly rejected Gilmore’s oil and gas lease offer because BLM did not receive an originally and manually signed lease form within the 30-day compliance period, and the government could not be estopped absent affirmative misconduct.


Gilmore v. Lujan, 947 F.2d 1409 (9th Cir. 1991)