Marvin M Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States

134 S.Ct. 1257 (2014)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In the early 1860s, Congress began granting to railroad companies rights of way through the public domain, accompanied by outright grants of land along those rights of way. Railroads could then either develop their lots or sell them, to finance construction of rail lines and encourage the settlement of future customers. Public resentment against such generous land grants to railroads began to grow in the late 1860s. By the 1870s, legislators across the political spectrum had embraced a policy of reserving public lands for settlers rather than granting them to railroads. Congress passed at least 15 special acts between 1871 and 1875 granting to designated railroads “the right of way” through public lands, without any accompanying land subsidy. Eventually, Congress passed the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875. A railroad company could obtain a right of way by the “actual construction of its road” or “in advance of construction by filing a map.' The 1875 Act remained in effect until 1976, when its provisions governing the issuance of new rights of way were repealed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. In 1976, the United States patented an 83-acre parcel of land in Fox Park, surrounded by the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, to D. The patent conveyed a fee simple title to the land “with all the rights, privileges, immunities, and appurtenances, of whatsoever nature, thereunto belonging, unto said claimants, their successors and assigns, forever.” The patent excepted certain right of ways and provided that if those roads cease to be used by P or its assigns for a period of five years, the patent provides that “the easement traversed thereby shall terminate.” The land was granted “subject to those rights for railroad purposes as have been granted to the Laramie, Hahn’s Peak & Pacific Railway Company, its successors or assigns.” The right of way is 66 miles long and 200 feet wide. LHP&P changed hands numerous times from 1914 until 1935, when it was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1987, the Union Pacific sold the rail line, including the right of way, to the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad, which planned to use it as a tourist attraction. In 1996, the Wyoming and Colorado notified the Surface Transportation Board of its intent to abandon the right of way. It completed abandonment in 2004. P initiated this action seeking a judicial declaration of abandonment and an order quieting title in P. to the abandoned right of way. D contested the claim and filed a counterclaim. D asserted that the right of way was a mere easement that was extinguished upon abandonment by the railroad. P countered that it had all along retained a reversionary interest in the railroad right of way-that is, a future estate that would be restored to the United States if the railroad abandoned or forfeited its interest. P got a summary judgment, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. It concluded that P had retained an “implied reversionary interest” in the right of way, which then vested in P when the right of way was relinquished. D appealed.