Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States

62 Fed. Cl. 481, 161 Oil & Gas Rep. 269, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 408, 2003 WL 23838161
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided October 3, 2003·No. No. 96-237 L·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court are Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration (Pis.’ Mot. or Motion), Defendant’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration (Def.’s Resp.), and Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of Their Motion for Reconsideration (Pis.’ Reply). For the following reasons, plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

In their Motion, plaintiffs allege that certain factual and legal mistakes were made in the court’s opinion filed on June 27, 2003, Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States, 57 Fed.Cl. 115 (2003) (Cane). Pls.’ Mot. at 1-2. Specifically, plaintiffs argue that the court “acted on erroneous premises” when it determined that the relevant parcel for the takings analysis respecting Cane’s claims are all tracts owned by Cane (Relevant Parcel Issue). Pis.’ Mot. at 3. Plaintiffs also argue that the timber valuation data the court used in its takings analysis was “directly against the grain of plaintiffs’ contrary record evidence” (Timber Valuation Issue). Id. at 6-7. Plaintiff argues that the court’s erroneous perception of the timber valuation data resulted in, among other things, the court’s error in granting defendant’s motion to strike the second declara[483]*483tion of Mr. Black and Mr. Boyd’s February 2003 expert report (Black’s Second Declaration and Boyd’s February 2003 Report Issue). Id. at 10-12. Finally, plaintiffs argue that the court’s conclusion that Cane did not have reasonable investment-backed expectations “diverges critically from the arguments and evidence put before the [cjourt” (Reasonable Investment-Backed Expectations Issue). Id. at 13. Plaintiffs seek reconsideration pursuant to Rule 59(a) of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC).

Rule 59(a) affords this court the discretion to grant reconsideration “to all or any of the parties and on all or part of the issues, for any of the reasons established by the rules of common law or equity applicable as between private parties in the courts of the United States.” RCFC 59(a). See Yuba Natural Res., Inc. v. United States, 904 F.2d 1577, 1583 (Fed.Cir.1990). A showing in support of the motion “must be based ‘upon manifest error of law, or mistake of fact, and is not intended to give an unhappy litigant an additional chance to sway the court.’ ” Fru-Con Constr. Corp. v. United States, 44 Fed.Cl. 298, 300 (1999), aff'd, 250 F.3d 762 (Fed.Cir.2000) (quoting Bishop v. United States, 26 Cl.Ct. 281, 286 (1992)). A party moving under RCFC 59 “does not persuade the court to grant ... a motion [for reconsideration] by merely reasserting arguments which were previously made and were carefully considered by the court.” Coconut Grove Entertainment, Inc. v. United States, 46 Fed.Cl. 249, 255 (2000). See also Gelco Builders & Burjay Constr. Corp. v. United States, 177 Ct.Cl. 1025, 369 F.2d 992, 1000 n. 7 (1966). The court also notes that “Reconsideration enables a trial court to address oversights, and the court appreciates the opportunity to do so.” Fru-Con, 44 Fed.Cl. at 315.

The court turns now to address each of the four issues raised by plaintiffs.

1. Relevant Parcel Issue

Plaintiffs challenge the court’s relevant parcel determination. Plaintiffs assert that “[i]n deciding that the relevant parcel for the takings analysis respecting Cane’s claims would be the combined group of four separate non-contiguous tracts owned by Cane, the Court acted on [three] erroneous premises.” Pls.’ Mot. at 3. First, plaintiffs draw the court’s attention to the statement in the Opinion that “[w]hen the Cane purchase was completed, all tracts were transferred to Cane on the same deed.” Id. at 4 (quoting Cane, 57 Fed.Cl. at 122). Plaintiffs state that the tracts were not transferred to Cane on the same deed but by two separate deeds. Id. Second, plaintiffs challenge the statement in the Opinion that “the deed did not state separate consideration for the various tracts.” Id. (quoting Cane, 57 Fed.Cl. at 122). Plaintiffs contend that separate consideration was stated for each of the two deed transactions. Pls.’ Mot. at 4. Third, plaintiffs dispute the statement that “there [were] no plans or proposals to develop the separate tracts independently of each other.” Id. (quoting Cane, 57 Fed. Cl. at 122). Plaintiffs assert that certain coal deposits were “independently developable.” Id. at 5.

a. Two Deeds

With respect to whether Cane’s property was transferred to it in one or two deeds, plaintiffs are correct that the transfer was made in two deeds. The first deed, dated February 13, 1979, conveyed three tracts, including the Rainey Ridge tract.1 Pls.’ Mot. at 4; Exhibits to Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Support of Their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Respecting the Timing and Scope of Temporary and Permanent Takings of Plaintiffs’ Coal Estates and Respecting the “Denominator” Applied to the Takings Analysis (Pls.’ Ex.) 46 at 1045-1051. The second deed, dated February 15, 1979, conveyed two tracts, including the Main tract.2 Pls.’ Mot. at 4; Pis.’ Ex. 10 at 218-226. The court focuses on the acquisition of the Rainey Ridge and Main tracts because, as plaintiffs explained in the summary judgment briefing, the claims of Cane, the Wyatts, and the Wyatt Trusts concern only the Main tract [484]*484and the Rainey Ridge tract. See Cane 57 Fed.Cl. at 121 n. 6.

The court does not believe, however, that this factual error in the Opinion materially affects the relevant parcel determination. The first deed transferred property that was owned at that time by Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr. and Anne D. Wyatt. Pls.’ Ex. 10. The second deed transferred property that was owned at that time by Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr., as Trustee. Pls.’ Ex. 46. The two deeds were prepared by the same law firm, Wyatt, Grafton & Sloss, see Pls.’ Ex. 10 at 218; Pls.’ Ex. 46 at 1045, and the deeds were recorded on February 16, 1979 in Deed Book 87 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, consecutively and within two minutes of each other. See Pls.’ Ex. 10 at 226; Pls.’ Ex. 46 at 1051.

Property acquired through separate deeds can nonetheless be treated as a single relevant parcel in a takings analysis. In Forest Properties, Inc. v. United States, 39 Fed.Cl. 56 (1997), aff'd, 177 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir.), cert, denied sub nom. RCK Prop., Inc., 528 U.S. 951, 120 S.Ct. 373, 145 L.Ed.2d 291 (1999), the court found “that the parcel as a whole ... includes the 9.4 acres of lakebottom property and the inextricably linked 53 acres of upland property [acquired five months earlier than the lakebottom property].” Id. at 67. Declining to “elevate the style of the transaction over the substance of a property owner’s treatment of a parcel,” id. at 74, the court rejected plaintiffs position that the relevant parcel was the 9.4 acre parcel based on the “ ‘separateness’ ” of the transactions. Id. at 73.

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Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States, 62 Fed. Cl. 481, 161 Oil & Gas Rep. 269, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 408, 2003 WL 23838161 (uscfc 2003).

62 Fed. Cl. 481 (Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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