Sutton v. United States

107 Fed. Cl. 436, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1254, 2012 WL 5194058
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 18, 2012
DocketNo. 09-648L
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 107 Fed. Cl. 436 (Sutton 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
Sutton v. United States, 107 Fed. Cl. 436, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1254, 2012 WL 5194058 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION

HODGES, Judge.

Plaintiffs in this rails-to-trails case are landowners in Sacramento, California. They allege that the United States acquired the use of their property without due compensation by authorizing an easement on their lands for recreational trail use.

[438]*438Plaintiffs and defendant filed cross motions for summary judgment on the issue of liability. The parties briefed their arguments on all aspects of defendant’s alleged liability, including whether plaintiffs have a cognizable property interest in the land. We grant plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment on liability for the reasons explained below.

BACKGROUND

Cases in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have described the Trails Act at some length, and the Act’s relationship to takings cases brought in the Court of Federal Claims. See, e.g., Barclay v. United States, 443 F.3d 1368, 1370-74 (Fed.Cir.2006); Preseault v. United States, 100 F.3d 1525, 1533, 1537-40 (Fed.Cir.1996). We have not restated the law established by the Federal Circuit in rails-to-trails cases, except as it applies to the facts here.

Plaintiffs allege a Fifth Amendment taking of their property based on defendant’s issuance of a Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU) affecting a railroad corridor adjacent to their property in Yolo County, California. The railroad-purpose easements obtained from fee owners supporting the corridor were held by Sierra Northern Railway. The strip of land at issue here runs approximately ten miles, between milepost 90.5 in the City of West Sacramento, to a point south of Pump-house Road in Yolo County, California.

The Surface Transportation Board issued a NITU for the railroad corridor on January 24, 2005, and soon thereafter, the Railroad and the City of West Sacramento reached a trail use agreement for the corridor. Plaintiffs filed this Complaint as a class action in September 2009.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is appropriate where there is “no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” RCFC 56(a). The burden to establish the absence of any material fact lies with the moving party, and we resolve factual issues in favor of the non-moving party. Mingus Constructors, Inc. v. United States, 812 F.2d 1387, 1390 (Fed.Cir.1987) (citing United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962); SRI Int’l v. Matsushita Elec. Corp., 775 F.2d 1107, 1116 (Fed.Cir.1985)). After the moving party meets its burden, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to show sufficient evidence of a genuine issue of material fact. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Mere denials, conclusory statements, or evidence that is not significantly probative, will not defeat summary judgment. Id. at 248-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505. In analyzing cross motions for summary judgment, we evaluate each party’s motion by this standard. Mingus Constructors, 812 F.2d at 1391 (“[T]he court must evaluate each party’s motion on its own merits, taking care in each instance to draw all reasonable inferences against the party whose motion is under consideration.”).

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has provided the following framework for determining whether a taking has occurred in rails-to-trails eases: (1) What entity owned the land involved; e.g, did the railroad acquire an easement or did it obtain fee simple title to the corridor; (2) if the corridor was subject only to an easement, what were the terms of the easement; i.e., was its use limited to railroad purposes, or could it be interpreted to encompass use as a public recreational trail; and (3) if the easement was broad enough to allow a recreational trail, was the easement still in effect when the alleged taking occurred; i.e., otherwise, the property owners may have held fee simple title to the property, unencumbered by the easements. See Preseault, 100 F.3d at 1533.

The first prong of the Preseault test has eliminated some plaintiffs from this case. The railroad had acquired its interest in the corridor adjacent to their lands in fee simple.1 The parties agree that the railroad’s [439]*439interest in the adjacent lands of the remaining plaintiffs is only an easement. The parties also agree that easements limited to use for railroad purposes, described in Pre-seault’s, second prong, do not permit trail use under California law. However, defendant contends that those plaintiffs have no com-pensable property interest, either because the NITU did not effect a taking, or because intervening roads cut off their interests in the railroad corridor.

PLAINTIFFS’ INTERESTS

Plaintiffs have claims in rails-to-trails cases where the three conditions discussed in Preseault are met. That is, claimants must show that the segments of a railroad corridor abutting their lands are not held in fee by the railroad, that the original easement is not broad enough to encompass the use to which the Government would put it, or if it is that broad, plaintiffs must show the lands reverted to their ownership before the taking occurred. The parties have stipulated that some of the claimants’ tracts abut a railroad corridor that is owned in fee by Sierra Northern Railway; they have no rights in the disputed land because the railroad has superior title. The remaining plaintiffs must show them property rights according to the second and third principles.

Fee Title in Claimants

The parties stipulate that the railroad’s interest in segments abutting plaintiffs’ lands other than those listed in footnote 1, infra, are easements only. Easements affecting those lands are limited to railroad purposes that do not include trail use according to California law. Eight of these claimants’ interests are held in fee simple, subject only to the railroad easements.2

Defendant agrees that these plaintiffs have satisfied the first prong of the Preseault test by demonstrating their property interests, and concedes that recreational trail use is beyond the scope of railroad-purpose easements under California law. However, the Government claims that plaintiffs are not entitled to compensation because the NITU does not authorize or impose interim recreational trail use.3

Defendant attempts various means of distinguishing direct Appeals Court precedent to the contrary. According to defendant, for example, Preseault is different from this case because there the state and federal governments were “fully invested” in the effort to create a public trail; here, the Federal Government did not collaborate with state and local entities. See Preseault, 100 F.3d at 1551. Defendant posits that such collabora[440]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 Fed. Cl. 436, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1254, 2012 WL 5194058, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sutton-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.