Wyoming man Marvin Brandt originally sued after the Forest Service moved to convert an old rail line crossing his 83-acre property into bike trails. Before the Supreme Court's decision, Brandt had lost twice in the lower circuits. (ViaGoogle Earth)
The justices ruled 8-1 that property owner Marvin Brandt remains the owner of a 200-foot-wide trail that crosses his 83-acre parcel in southern Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest. The trail once was the path of a railroad and is among thousands of miles of abandoned railroads that have been conv
Date: Mar 10, 2014
Category: U.S.
Source: Google
Trail Ownership in Doubt as Supreme Court Backs Landowner
On an 8-1 vote, the court today said a half-mile stretch ofland on Marvin Brandts property, once used for a rail line, nowbelongs to him, not the U.S. government. The Obamaadministration argued that the land reverted to the governmentonce it was formally abandoned by a railroad in 2004.
In a decision that could affect similar cases across the United States, the court ruled on an 8-1 vote that the right-of-way across Marvin Brandt's land that was established by a railroad was extinguished when the railroad was later abandoned.
Date: Mar 10, 2014
Category: U.S.
Source: Google
Court ruling in land dispute could eliminate bike trails
The ruling came in acase brought by Wyoming landowner Marvin Brandt, whose 83-acre propertyis crossed by an old railroad line. Brandt's victory has implicationsfor about 80 other cases involving some 8,000 claimants.