Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. v. a 50-Foot Wide Easement Consisting of 6.99 Acres More or Less

346 F. App'x 297
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 4, 2009
Docket09-8003
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 346 F. App'x 297 (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. v. a 50-Foot Wide Easement Consisting of 6.99 Acres More or Less) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. v. a 50-Foot Wide Easement Consisting of 6.99 Acres More or Less, 346 F. App'x 297 (10th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

DAVID M. EBEL, Circuit Judge.

Appellants, referred to collectively hereafter as “Gallatin,” argue that the district court made a number of errors in entering an order of condemnation in favor of appellee Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (“BNSF”) in regard to the 50-foot wide tract of land described in the caption (50-foot tract). Gallatin asserts six points of error. Because we find that none of them have merit, we affirm the district court’s condemnation order and judgment, exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

I.

BNSF sought to condemn the 50-foot tract because it was necessary to provide *300 support for one of three tracks that it had running through the area of Wyoming in question. Gallatin owns not only the 50-foot tract, but also a significant portion of other land on both sides of these three tracks. The main interest in this property on the part of the defendants that make up Gallatin is for the coal that apparently lies under the property. But the property is also leased for agricultural purposes and used for hunting and BNSF maintains a railroad crossing for Gallatin’s use. BNSF claimed that it already had a legal right-of-way for the land on which all three tracks are located, but it sought to purchase the 50-foot tract in order to provide proper slope support for the recently added third track, and to install a fire break and access road. Prior to the lawsuit, the parties engaged in extensive negotiations on a number of issues, including the maintenance of the existing crossing, the possible construction of an overpass, the railroad’s right to the land on which the tracks were built, and the purchase of the 50-foot tract. BNSF eventually filed a complaint seeking to quiet title to or condemn the land necessary for its railroad tracks. But the description of the land set forth in the complaint did not originally include the 50-foot tract. It was eventually allowed to amend its complaint to include the 50-foot tract as part of the land it was seeking to condemn. The parties eventually reached a settlement as to the claims regarding all the property except the 50-foot tract and Gallatin’s claim that BNSF’s condemnation action was statutorily precluded by its failure to maintain a reasonably adequate means of crossing the railroad. Following a bench trial, the district court entered findings of fact, a condemnation order, and a judgment granting BNSF’s request for condemnation of the 50-foot tract. Gallatin has appealed, raising six points of error.

In an appeal from a bench trial, we review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. Findings of fact are clearly erroneous when they are unsupported in the record, or if after our review of the record we have the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made. If the district court’s account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. This admonition applies equally regardless of whether the district court’s factual findings are based on credibility determinations or on documentary evidence.

La Resolana Architects, PA v. Reno, Inc., 555 F.3d 1171, 1177 (10th Cir.2009) (quotations and citations omitted). In this diversity case we apply Wyoming law.

II.

In its first point, Gallatin argues it had a constitutional and statutory right to a trial by jury on the issue of reasonable access. Gallatin does not dispute that, generally, there is no right to a jury in a condemnation case under Wyoming law. See Colorado Interstate Gas Co. v. Uinta Dev. Co., 364 P.2d 655, 657 (Wyo.1961) (“It is well settled that there is no constitutional right to a trial by jury in condemnation cases, and in the absence of a special constitutional or statutory provision such a right does not exist.”).

Nevertheless, Gallatin points to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 71.1(k), which provides that Rule 71.1 “governs an action involving eminent domain under state law. But if state law provides for trying an issue by jury-or for trying the issue of compensation by jury or commission or both-that law governs.” Gallatin argues *301 that § 1-26-812 of the Wyoming Statutes provides for a right of trial by jury.

Under § l-26-812(a): “[wjhen any person owns land on both sides of any railroad, the company owning the railroad shall construct and maintain reasonably adequate means of crossing the railroad.” As recognized by Gallatin, § 1-26-812 also provides the steps a railroad must take and the conditions it must meet for the railroad to be able to abandon, close, or fail to maintain such a crossing. If the steps are not followed or the conditions not met, the railroad is precluded from exercising the condemnation powers found in § 1-26-810. A landowner therefore has a defense to condemnation when the railroad has not properly maintained a crossing or closed a crossing without taking the required steps or fulfilling the required conditions. Gallatin duly presented § 1-26-812 as one of its affirmative defenses.

Gallatin’s argument that § 1-26-812 also provides a cause of action that is to be tried by a jury is based on subsection (f), which reads: “Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting or prohibiting any person from maintaining any other action at law for a railroad’s failure to maintain a crossing, or abandonment or closing of a crossing.” Gallatin argues on appeal that the “explicit language” of this subsection “provides for actions at law when railroad crossings are claimed to be abandoned, closed, not maintained, or otherwise interfered with when a landowner owns property on both sides of a crossing.” Aplt. Br. at 12 (emphasis added). It asserts that since “actions at law” are historically tried to a jury, it had the right to a jury trial. Id.

It seems clear that § 1 — 26—812(f) itself does not “afford[ ] individuals the right to trial by jury.” Aplt. Br. at 11. That subsection merely seeks to confirm that the statute does not impact any other action at law that a landowner might bring against a railroad that failed to properly maintain a crossing. It therefore appears that Gallatin is arguing that the language of subsection (f) is essentially evidence that some action at law exists for challenging a railroad’s failure to maintain a crossing, or abandonment or closing of a crossing.

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Bluebook (online)
346 F. App'x 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burlington-northern-santa-fe-railway-co-v-a-50-foot-wide-easement-ca10-2009.