Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States

60 Fed. Cl. 694, 59 ERC (BNA) 1021, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 129, 2004 WL 1179340
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMay 28, 2004
DocketNos. 96-237-L, 00-513-L, 02-945-L
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 60 Fed. Cl. 694 (Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cane Tennessee, Inc. v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 694, 59 ERC (BNA) 1021, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 129, 2004 WL 1179340 (uscfc 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court is Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum in Support Thereof, filed on October 10, 2003 (Def.’s MSJ or defendant’s motion) and The Wyatt Children[’]s and the Trusts’ Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Memorandum in Support of Their Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and in Opposition to the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment, filed on December 15, 2003 (Pis.’ Cross-Motion or plaintiffs’ cross-motion).1

[696]*696For the following reasons, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED as to the Wyatts and the Wyatt Trusts on the temporary takings issue, GRANTED as to the Wyatt Trusts on liability for a taking and DENIED as to the Wyatts on the relevant parcel issue and as to the Wyatts on the categorical takings issue under Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1015-19, 112 S.Ct. 2886, 120 L.Ed.2d 798 (1992) (Lucas). Plaintiffs’ cross-motion is GRANTED as to the Wyatts on the relevant parcel issue and on the Lucas categorical takings issue and is otherwise DENIED.

1. Background2

In two of the three complaints filed in this consolidated case, plaintiffs, the three Wyatt children (Wyatts) and the three trusts for their respective benefits (Wyatt Trusts), allege that the government permanently took them property without compensation when, on June 17, 2000, the Secretary of the Interi- or (Secretary) designated portions of their property as unsuitable for surface mining (Unsuitability Determination), and temporarily took their property without compensation during the unsuitability petition process. Complaint in Case No. 00-513 L, 11112, 37-38, 40 (2000 Compl.) (alleging taking of Cane’s and Colten’s properties based on the Secretary’s Unsuitability Determination); Complaint in Case No. 02-945 L, 11112, 40-42, 44 (2002 Compl.) (alleging taking of Wyatts’ and Wyatt Trusts’ mineral royalty interests based on the Secretary’s Unsuitability Determination); see Pis.’ Ex. 3 at 34-35 (Unsuitability Determination). The earliest complaint alleges a taking based on the government’s conduct during the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) permitting process involving Cane’s and Col-ten’s lessees. Complaint in Case No. 96-237 L, at 1-2 (1996 Compl.).

At issue in the pending motions are certain mineral royalty interests of the Wyatts and the Wyatt Trusts. See Pis.’ Cross-Motion passim. The Wyatts as individuals hold a 3.5% mineral royalty interest in the Main Tract, and the Wyatt Trusts own a 3.5% mineral royalty interest in the Rainey Ridge Tract and two other tracts that are affected by the Unsuitability Determination. 2002 Compl. HIT 10, 28.

The Wyatts as individuals are Mary Anne Wyatt, Nancy Wyatt Zorn, and Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr., the children of the Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr. and Anne D. Wyatt (the Senior Wyatts). 2002 Compl. 114. These three individuals received their property interests for purposes of this case in 1991, when a reserved mineral royalty interest in the Main Tract of the Cane property was deeded to them in three equal shares by the Senior Wyatts. 2002 Compl. H 28. These three individuals are also the beneficiaries of three [697]*697trusts established by the Senior Wyatts in 1973. 2002 Compl. IT 5. Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr. was the original trustee of these trusts and remains the trustee, 2002 Compl. IT 5, except for the trust for the benefit of Nancy Wyatt Zorn, as to which the Regions Morgan Keegan Trust, F.S.B., has been substituted, see Order in Case No. 96-237 L, filed on Nov. 17, 2003 (acknowledging such substitution). The court has previously stated that “[t]he Wyatt Trusts received their property interests for purposes of this case in February, 1979 ____” Cane Tenn., Inc. v. United States, 57 Fed.Cl. 115, 117 n. 1 (2003) (Cane III) (emphasis added).3

This case has already been the subject of three summary judgment motions.4 The second most recent motion, decided on October 2. 2002, is one of two opinions that addressed the 2000 complaint. See Cane Tenn., Inc. and Colten, Inc. v. United States, 54 Fed.Cl. 100 (2002) (Cane II). In its opinion, the court found that the “denominator” for purposes of the takings analysis was governed by the “parcel as a whole” rule. Id. at 105. In its decision on the third motion, Cane III, the court decided the relevant parcel issue as to the plaintiffs in the 2000 complaint. 57 Fed.Cl. at 120-22.5 The court also held that because there was no extraordinary delay, the period of consideration by the Secretary of the Interior leading to the Unsuitability Determination did not constitute a temporary taking. Id. at 131-34; see also Seiber v. United States, 364 F.3d 1356, 1364-65 (Fed.Cir.2004) (stating the circumstances under which extraordinary delay is necessary for a temporary takings claim). In briefing on the pending motions and at oral argument, the parties acknowledge that the court’s decision on the temporary takings issue in Cane III disposes of the parties’ temporary takings claim under the law of the case doctrine. Transcript of Oral Argument on May 11, 2004 at 4-5(Tr.); Def.’s MSJ at 37-38; see Pis.’ Cross-Motion at 1-2; see also Augustine v. Principi, 343 F.3d 1334, 1339 (Fed.Cir.2003) (stating that “[ujnder the doctrine of law of the case, ‘a court will generally refuse to reopen or reconsider what has already been decided at an earlier stage of the litigation’ ” (quoting Suel v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 192 F.3d 981, 985 (Fed.Cir. 1999))).

Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr. and Anne D. Wyatt, his wife (the Senior Wyatts) bought large tracts of land from the heirs of John H. Imman in 1953. Id. at 119. The Senior Wyatts gradually sold and disposed of tracts and interests in tracts from 1953 to 1991. Id.

In 1977, Congress enacted the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, 30 U.S.C. §§ 1201-1328 (2000) (SMCRA), which required permits as a precondition to mining and established a process whereby the Secretary could, upon petition, designate land as unsuitable for surface mining. See E. Minerals Int’l, Inc. v. United States, 36 Fed.Cl. 541, 544 (1996) (Eastern Minerals), rev’d on other grounds, Wyatt v. United States, 271 F.3d 1090 (Fed.Cir.2001) (Wyatt); 30 U.S.C. [698]*698§§ 1256 (requiring that a permit be obtained prior to engaging in surface coal mining operations), 1272 (process by which areas are designated unsuitable for surface coal mining operations).

In 1995, the United States Department of Interior, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) accepted and undertook consideration of a petition by Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), a concerned citizens group, to designate land encompassing and adjacent to plaintiffs’ property as unsuitable for surface coal mining operations. 2002 Compl. 1133; Pis.’ Ex. 2 at 10.

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Bluebook (online)
60 Fed. Cl. 694, 59 ERC (BNA) 1021, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 129, 2004 WL 1179340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cane-tennessee-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2004.