v.
United States
No. 10-156L
(Filed: February 24, 2014)
__________
MCCLURG FAMILY FARM, LLC, et al., *
for themselves and As Representatives of a * Rails-to-trails case; Cross-motions for partial Class of Similarly Situated Persons, * summary judgment; Ownership interests * under Iowa law; Stipulation – application of Plaintiffs, * Burgess and Jenkins to the parcels in this * case; Railroad interests – easement versus * fee; Burden of proof where original v. * conveyance documents are missing; Application of Iowa Code § 327G-77 to THE UNITED STATES, * railroad lines owned in fee; Questions of * fact. Defendant. * * __________
OPINION
__________
Thomas Scott Stewart, Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, Kansas City, MO, for plaintiffs.
Frank James Singer, Environment and Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., with whom was Acting Assistant Attorney General Robert G. Dreher, for defendant.
ALLEGRA, Judge:
Plaintiffs, landowners in Iowa, allege that their property was taken as a result of defendant’s actions under the National Trails System Act (the Trails Act), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1241-51. The court certified the class on July 27, 2010. Pending are cross-motions for partial summary judgment regarding defendant’s liability as to the 360 parcels at issue. For the reasons that follow, the court renders a split decision, concluding, as a matter of law, that defendant is liable with respect to some of these parcels and not as to others. For still other parcels, the court determines that the existence of genuine issues of material fact precludes a ruling as to liability. The court’s determinations are summarized in the appendix that follows this opinion.
I. BACKGROUND
A brief recitation of the underlying facts sets the context for this decision.
The class of plaintiffs in this case owns real estate that assertedly underlies or adjoins a 36.9 mile railroad corridor that runs through Dickinson and Osceola Counties, Iowa (the Railroad Line). The Railroad Line was originally created by the Iowa Northwestern Railroad (INW), which established the corridor through a combination of various forms of conveyance and transfer.
On September 5, 2008, INW filed a petition for an abandonment exemption with the Surface Transportation Board (STB),[1] seeking permission to abandon the Railroad Line, specifically a segment between milepost 215.4, west of Mackenzie Junction, to milepost 252.3, west of Braaksma, located in Dickenson and Osceola Counties. On October 3, 2008, the Iowa Trails Council filed a Request for Issuance of a Public Use Condition and Notice of Interim Trail Use. On October 24, 2008, the STB issued a Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU) 2 relating to the Railroad Line identified above. Following several extensions of the negotiating period, on or about August 31, 2009, INW and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (the Foundation), on behalf of the Dickinson County Trails Board and the Osceola County Conservation Board, reached an agreement to purchase the Railroad Line from INW for interim trail use and railbanking pursuant to section 8(d) of the Trails Act. By letter dated October 19, 2009, the Foundation notified the STB of this agreement.
On March 12, 2010, plaintiffs filed their complaint in this court seeking just compensation under the Fifth Amendment for property they claim was taken when the STB issued the NITU pursuant to the Trails Act. As mentioned, on July 27, 2010, the court certified a class that eventually grew to include 360 individual parcels and 279 individuals or entities. On August 23, 2010, plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint; on March 21, 2011, they filed a second amended complaint.
[*2]As discovery progressed, the parties generated and exchanged a series of claims books, a process designed to isolate the documents and arguments associated with given parcels and to identify the need for additional discovery. Through this process, plaintiffs agreed to dismiss voluntarily their claims as to 19 parcels, leaving 341 parcels. On June 30, 2011, plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment as to 150 of these parcels, for which they claimed defendant had no bona fide objection to liability. Before oral argument on that motion, plaintiffs filed a motion to compel seeking to require defendant to stipulate to the ownership and adjacency to the Railroad Line of 188 parcels. In an effort to get a single motion covering all the parcels, on March 16, 2012, the court conducted a status conference, at which the parties agreed to cancel the argument scheduled on plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment and to take positions with respect to all of the parcels at issue.
After the parties exchanged additional documents, plaintiffs filed, on September 13, 2012, a supplemental motion for partial summary judgment on liability. On October 12, 2012, defendant filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment. In the midst of the briefing of that motion, the undersigned decided Burgess v. United States, 109 Fed. Cl. 223 (2013), which dealt with the issuance of a NITU under the Trails Act with respect to another rail line in Iowa. On March 7, 2013, the court issued an order setting argument on May 23, 2013, on the parties’ supplemental cross-motions for partial summary judgment. Three days before that argument, on May 20, 2013, the parties filed a stipulation in which they agreed, for purposes of the court’s ruling on the pending cross-motions, to have the treatment of certain parcels be governed by Burgess and Jenkins v. United States, 102 Fed. Cl. 598 (2011). Unable to determine which parcels were still at issue, the court cancelled the oral argument and ordered the parties to file charts setting forth their positions as to each of the parcels at issue in the case. Those charts have been since been filed, revealing 58 different parcels on which the parties still dispute liability. Oral argument on the parcels still covered by the cross-motions for partial summary judgment is deemed unnecessary. [3]
II. DISCUSSION
We begin with common ground. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See RCFC 56; Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48 (1986). Disputes over facts that are not outcome-determinative will not preclude the entry of summary judgment. Id. at 248. However, summary judgment will not be granted if “the dispute about a material fact is ‘genuine,’ that is, if the evidence is such that a reasonable [trier of fact] could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Id.; see also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986); Becho, Inc. v. United States, 47 Fed. Cl. 595, 599 (2000).
[*3]When making a summary judgment determination, the court is not to weigh the evidence, but to “determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249; see also Agosto v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 436 U.S. 748, 756 (1978) (“a [trial] court generally cannot grant summary judgment based on its assessment of the credibility of the evidence presented”); Am. Ins. Co. v. United States, 62 Fed. Cl. 151, 154 (2004). The court must determine whether the evidence presents a disagreement sufficient to require fact finding, or, conversely, is “so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250-52; see also Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 586 (2009) (“‘Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.’” (quoting Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587)). Where there is a genuine dispute, all facts must be construed, and all inferences drawn from the evidence must be viewed, in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587-88 (citing United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655 (1962)); see also Stovall v. United States, 94 Fed. Cl. 336, 344 (2010); L.P. Consulting Grp., Inc. v. United States, 66 Fed. Cl. 238, 240 (2005). Where, as here, a court considers cross-motions for (partial) summary judgment, it must view each motion, separately, through this prism. [4]
A. Ownership Interest
It is now settled law that a Fifth Amendment takings occurs when defendant, through issuance of a NITU, destroys state-defined property rights. See Ladd v. United States, 630 F.3d 1015, 1019 (Fed. Cir. 2010); Rasmuson v. United States, 109 Fed. Cl. 267, 272 (2013). In the context of cases such as these, takings can arise variously – for example, where the NITU interferes with the landowner’s right to reversion of an unencumbered fee or prevents the landowner of property adjoining a rail line from augmenting his property under state law. See Ladd, 630 F.3d at 1019; Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 235-36.
In Preseault v. United States, 100 F.3d 1525, 1533 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (en banc), the Federal Circuit held that a threshold issue in rails-to-trails cases is who owned the land involved, with particular focus on whether the railroad in question acquired only an easement or instead obtained fee simple title to the corridor. “Clearly, if the Railroad obtained fee simple title to the land over which it was to operate, and that title inures, as it would, to its successors,” the court observed, a plaintiff “would have no right or interest in those parcels and could have no claim related to those parcels for a taking.” Id.; see also Sutton v. United States, 107 Fed. Cl. 436, 438 (2012). The Federal Circuit went on to explain that if an easement is found, the court must then determine whether it was subject to limitations, particularly, one “limited to use for railroad purposes.” Preseault, 100 F.3d at 1533; see also Ladd, 630 F.3d at 1019; Ellamae Phillips Co. v. United States, 564 F.3d 1367, 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2009). Iowa law adds a wrinkle to this property inquiry, as it confers additional rights on the owners of property adjoining a railroad upon the extinguishment of a railroad easement. See Rasmuson, 109 Fed. Cl. at 272 n.7; Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 229.
[*4]As to many of the parcels at issue, the parties focus on the same deeds and/or conveyance documents. Questions involving the interpretation of these documents must be resolved by reference to state law, in this case, that of Iowa. See Preseault v. I.C.C., 494 U.S. [1], 16 (1990); Rhutasel v. United States, 105 Fed. Cl. 220, 225 (2012); see also Douglas R. Bigelow Trust v. United States, 107 Fed. Cl. 490, 493 (2012). Under Iowa law, deeds are interpreted according to the ordinary rules of contract construction. See Wiegmann v. Baier, 203 N.W. 2d 204, 208 (Iowa 1972); Maxwell v. McCall, 124 N.W. 760 (Iowa 1910); Jackson v. Benson, 7 N.W. 97 (Iowa 1880); see also Douglas R. Bigelow Trust, 107 Fed. Cl. at 493; Sutton, 107 Fed. Cl. at 440. As to a number of the parcels at issue, both parties agree that there are no questions of fact and that deciding how these deeds should be construed presents a question of law, suitable for resolution under the cross-motions. [5] See Steele’s Lessee v. Spencer, 26 U.S. 552, 560 (1828); Douglas R. Bigelow Trust, 107 Fed. Cl. at 493; Sutton, 107 Fed. Cl. at 439-40. As to other parcels, however, the parties have raised a host of questions of fact that, as will be seen, precludes this court from resolving, for now, the claims regarding those parcels.
[*5]For ease and clarity of decision, the court has grouped the parcels into seven categories, each raising the same or similar issues. [6] The court will address each of these categories in turn.
1. Parcels for Which Plaintiffs Concede There is No Liability.
Claimant Name Claim Source Christian Reformed Church c/o Larry Post 15.A & 15.B 5-353 Tom & Le Ann Ransom 33.B & 33.C 5-495 Mark S. & Carol Coleman 67 H-216, H-163 Martin & Melinda Marten 91 F-384 Albert Bartley 92 F-384 Scott Trigg & Nancy J. Johnson 94 Michael K. De Jong 100 F-406 Maye M. Swanson 101 F-406 Dan M. & Lori D. Lewis 110 George W. Garloff 155.B & 155.C H-321, H-239 Great Lakes Cooperative 156.A - 156.H Robert Sr. & Robert Jr. Kirschbaum 157.A & 157.B E. L. Ballou 158.A & 158.B Robert L. Browning 159.A - 159.D H. & V. Thompson Farms LTD 160 Lonnie S. Browning 161.A & 161.B
Based on their review of the relevant conveyance documents and deeds (and for some of the parcels, there were no such documents), plaintiffs concede that there is no liability for the 32 parcels listed in the chart above.
2. Parcels Whose Treatment is Controlled, for Purposes of this Decision, by either Burgess v. United States or Jenkins v. United States.
This court has issued several opinions in other Trails Act cases involving rail corridors in Iowa. See Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. 223; Jenkins, 102 Fed. Cl. 598; Jenkins v. United States, 2012 WL 10205284 (Fed. Cl. Dec. 21, 2012). On May 20, 2013, the parties stipulated to be bound tentatively by these decisions as they relate to certain parcels at issue in this case, reserving, inter alia, the right to appeal Burgess, Jenkins or any decision reached here. [7] The following segments reflect the parties’ agreement.
[*6]a. Parcels governed by the court’s ruling in Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 229-31, that certain deeded easements were limited to railroad purposes and, therefore, subject to Iowa Code § 327G.76.
Claimant Name Claim Source The Estate of Theodore Pranger; Loreen J. [4].D 5-471 Bruxvoort; John W. Pranger Life Estate Robert & Sylvia A. Rolfes 8.A - 8.C 5-353 Clear Lake Stock Farms, Inc. 10.A & 10.B 5-394 Sonstegard Family Farms 5-406, 5-471, & 5- 11.A - 11.C Earl Faber 12.A - 12.C 5-469, 5-471 Marlin & Mary Laverman 14.A - 14.C 5-374 Lawrence W. & Vonna R. Leckband 16.A 5-340 Lawrence W. Leckband 16.B – 16.D 5-340 Mark and Verna Salzman 17 5-340 James Hesebeck 18 5-340, 5-480 Cooperative Elevator Association of 19.A 5-340, 5-480 Ocheyedan Cooperative Elevator Association of 5-519, 5-515 & 5- 19.B - 19.D Ocheyedan 402 Randall W. Boeke 20.B 5-519 Larry L. & Ruby E. Brunk 21.C 5-519 Douglas D. & Danette K. Block 22.A - 22.D 5-353 Alan Hart 23.A, 23.D. – 5-353, 5-376 23.G Helen Hart 23.B & 23.C 5-353 Maurice D. & Barbara L. Block 24.A & 24.B 5-353 Hans J. & Bernice Willadsen 25.B & 25.C 5-382 Larry Bosma; Jerry & Marcella Bosma; Darlene Wassink; Arlene Van Beek; Ester Bosma; Presentation Sisters, Inc; Charles & 26.A & 26.B 5-384, 5-412 Joyce Bosma; Leo Bosma; Pamela & Duane Van deHoef; Lucella Bosma; Frances B. Bosma Trust Merle L. & Sarah J. Pedley 27.B 5-388 Travaille Family Farms Inc. 28.A & 28.B 5-380, 5-388 Dale L. Peters 31.C 3-390 J&M Partnership LLP 33.D 5-402 Gerald R. & Joan C. Vander Muelen 37.A & 37.B 5-406 Randy E. Clark; Linda Kunzman; Barbra A. 38.A - 38.E H-564, H-560 Cambilargui & Lori M. Clark-Cotterman Clifford L. Nebelsick 39.A - 39.C H-560 Frederick Goodno; Scott W. Goodno; Stacy 40.A - 40.D H-560, H-555 Wiese; Justin & Shawna Goodno Jared Andrew Herbert Revocable Trust & The Mary Julianne Spencer-Herbert Revocable 41.F - 41.H H-191 Trust Steven A. & Jennifer L. Krummen; Stewart A. Krummen; Craig S. Krummen & Royce 42.E H-191 Krummen Randall J. Johnson 43.C H-191 Arco Dehydrating Co. Inc. 44.B - 44.D H-191 Gregory L. Baloun 45.A - 45.D H-191 Gregory L. Baloun & Wes McClure 45.E H-135 Allen and Mary J. Arnold 46 H-135 William Steven & Dianne Kathleen Jansen 47 H-135 Lake Park Development Corp. 48 H-135 Bradley T. & Francel L. Graham 49.A - 49.C H-135 Krummen Farms LP 50.A - 50.E H-135 Robert Allen 51.A - 51.C H-162 Harold R. Hartmann Trust 52.A & 52.B H-162 Harold R. Hartmann Trust 52.C H-218, H-222 Timothy S. Hoerichs & Ann L. Hoerichs 57.A & 57.B H-161 Family Trust David B. Olson 58 H-161 Jon Gunderson 63.B H-289 Cohrs Construction, Inc. 66 H-289 Evelyn McClurg & McClurg Family Farm, 68.A - 68.C H-288 LLC Paul J. & Diane L. Kollasch 69 H-288 Jerry Edward Miller 70.A & 70.B H-288 Gwendolyn Vetter H-288, H-177 & 71.A - 71.E H-193 Janet Bergman Revocable Trust 72 H-194 Terry L. & Cheryl L. Bruns 73 H-194 Don B. & Barbara F. Erlandson 74 H-194 Raymond A. & Darlene Gustafson 75.A & 75.B H-194 Scott & Mary Lynn Ingvall 76 H-194 Richard L. & Kathy S. Kleen 77.A H-194 Todd Krieger 78.A & 78.B H-194 Kathleen M. Krueger 79.A - 79.C H-194 Dennis A. & Marilyn K. Ladwig 80.A & 80.B H-194 G. Wallis Reed Trust 81 H-194 Roger F. Reppert Revocable Trust 82 H-194 Arthur J. Thompson & Jill N. McDowell 83.B H-194 Ferrellgas Inc. 84 H-194 Jack L. & Beverly J. Longmore 85.A & 85.B F-402 Craig F. & Ellen M. Moffitt 86 H-194 Richard A. & Karla J. Heinrichs 95.A - 95.C F-384 Ronald D. Claussen Revocable Trust 96.A & 96.B F-384 Brian A. & Carol A. Woods 99 F-384 Robert W. Thorbrogger 116 F-403, F-413 Janice M. Schultz 117 F-403, F-413 Frigate LLC 118.A & 118.B F-403, F-413 David S. & Darlene I. Shaw 119.A & 119.B F-403, F-413 Keith L. & Susan L. Ostrum 121 H-313 Mark A. & Kristine L. Hoss 122 F-403, F-413 Reed L. Potter 123 F-403, F-413 James E. & Pamela A. Feld 124 H-313 Thomas L. Hoffman 125 H-313 Linda S. Taylor 126 H-313 Dennis D. & Anita Dean 127.A & 127.B H-313 Scott V. & Jolene C. Egertson 128 H-313 Gregory A. & Connie J. Tolan 129 H-313 Michael T. & Rhonda F. Reekers 130 H-313 Beverly Jean Steinberger 131 H-313 Arthur C & Roxa L. Cummings 132 H-313 Kathleen M. Drysdale 133 H-313 Kimberly K. Durst 134 H-313 Gary & Tom Kuhlman, Kathy Jo Swalve, Sally 135 H-313 Ann Lundberg & Phoebe Hersom Duane H. Serck 136 F-417 Clint T. & Lindsay R. Robinson 137 H-164 William J. & Carleen C. Lambert 138.A & 138.B H-164, F-420 Joyce Overocker F-412, F-411 & 139.A - 139.D F-419 Rohn K. Shepley 140 F-412 Lavonne Esther Hansen 141.A & 141.B F-411 Margerite Butcher Revocable Trust F-420, F-404, & 142.A - 142.D F-416 Margaret Hill Northey 143.A & 143.B F-415 Douglas A. & Nancy N. Pringnitz 144.A & 144.B F-415 Steven J. & Julie A. Ingvall 153 H-194 Jerry Moore 154 H-313 George W. Garloff 155.A H-135
[*495]In Burgess, a number of the “right-of-way” deeds indicated that the property owner granted the railroad “the right of way for their railroad,” going on to describe the conveyance as “[a] strip of land for that purpose one hundred feet wide across.” Construing these deeds, the undersigned concluded that the language therein conveyed to the railroad only an easement for railroad purposes. Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 226, 230. Citing, inter alia, Iowa Code §§ 327G-76- 77, 8 the court concluded that “[i]f the easements in question were not unrestricted, but instead limited for railroad purposes only, they were extinguished upon abandonment of the rail line.” Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 231. In addition, to the extent that these properties adjoined the Rail Line, for purposes of Iowa Code § 327G.76, the easements in question extinguished due to non- use before the NITU was issued, making defendant liable for a takings. See Burgess, 109 Fed. Cl. at 229.
With the limitations discussed above, the parties agree that this ruling in Burgess applies to the 180 properties listed in the chart above. [9] Trust Steven A. & Jennifer L. Krummen; Stewart A. Krummen; Craig S. Krummen & Royce 42.A - 42.D H-565, H-557 Krummen Randall J. Johnson 43.A & 43.B H-557 Arco Dehydrating Co. Inc. 44.F & 44.G H-239 Harold R. Hartmann Trust 52.D & 52.E H-221, H-220 James H. & Mary C. Watts 53 H-231, H-233 Randall & Russell Eckard 54.A & 54.B H-231, H-233 Donald C. McHose, Richard R. McHose & H-231, H-233, H- 55.A - 55.D Elwin Pearey 229 Estate of Ester Gath H-231, H-233, H- 56.A - 56.C Harlen M. Mitchell Revocable Trust & 60.A & 60.B H-226 Lennace E. Mitchell Revocable Trust Orr Family Farm Company LLC 61 H-224 Sunny Joan Fronk Revocable Trust 62 H-224 Furman Realty 64 H-224 Donald R. & Phyllis Lago 65.A 10 - 65.C H-218, H-220, Farmers Cooper Elevator Company of 3 3-402, 13-286 Allendorf Sonstegard Family Farms 11.E - 11.G 5-495 Randall W. Boeke 20.A 5-519 Tom & Le Ann Ransom 32.B - 32.D 5-495 J&M Partnership LLP 33.A 5-424 Scott Rueter Revocable Trust 36.A & 36.B 5-495 Jon & Tim Gunderson 63.A H-224 Deja Blues Diner 87 F-402 BV Buildings, LLC 88.A & 88.B F-402 Neil & Katie Slater 98 F-402
[*557]In Burgess, this court held that under Iowa law, the acquisition by a grantee of a fee interest in the same property in which it previously held an easement extinguishes the easement, leaving only a fee. See 109 Fed. Cl. at 234 (citing cases). The court held that this rule applied to a variety of properties that had been sold and conveyed to the railroad for building a depot, finding that “when the railroad obtained a fee interest in portions of the parcels in question any prior easement it possessed in the same property ceased to exist and, more importantly, no longer limited the use of the property.” Id.; see also Jenkins, 2012 WL 10205284, at *5-6.
With the caveats highlighted above, the parties agree that this ruling in Burgess applies to the 18 properties listed in the chart above. [12]