Opinion ID: 3001558
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Grants to the Railroads

Text: In the 1850’s and 1860’s, Congress passed a series of laws granting tracts of land and right-of-ways for purposes of constructing railway lines. Particularly relevant to this case are Acts enacted on August 4, 1852; June 3, 1856; and May 5, 1864. See ch. 80, 10 Stat. 28, 28-29 (1852); ch. 43, 11 Stat. 20, 20-21 (1856); and ch. 80, 13 Stat. 66, 66-68 No. 07-1348 3 (1864). The parties agree that the railroad’s property interest in the railway line traversing the property owned by Samuel C. Johnson 1988 Trust and Imogene P. Johnson (“SC Johnsons”) was originally acquired by the railroad via the 1856 and 1864 Acts. This is because those Acts governed odd numbered sections of property, which would include the SC Johnsons’ land, located at Section 21, Township 44 North, Range 7 West in Bayport County. The parties are in disagreement, however, as to whether the United States maintained a reversionary interest in this land. According to the Landowners, the 1856 and 1864 Acts vested the title of fee simple absolute with the State of Wisconsin, which then in turn transferred this full property interest to the railroad companies. See 1874 Wis. Sess. Laws ch. 126, § 1. The County, however, argues that the Western District of Wisconsin and this Court have already found that the United States retained a reversionary interest in odd-numbered sections of Bayfield County granted to the State of Wisconsin for the purpose of constructing railroads under the 1856 and 1864 Acts. Mauler v. Bayfield County, 204 F. Supp. 2d 1168, 1176 (W.D. Wis. 2001); Mauler v. Bayfield County, 309 F.3d 997, 1001 (7th Cir. 2002). Also in dispute is the United States’s reversionary interest in the parcels of land owned by John and Kay Hawksford (“Hawksfords”) and Dean and Kathryn Johnson (“DK Johnsons”), which lie in an even sec- tion—specifically, Government Lot 2 of Section 32, Township 44 North, Range 7 West, in Bayfield County. According to the Landowners, railroads seeking rights of way in even-numbered sections generally obtained this interest through private conveyance or condemnation on a parcel-by-parcel basis. With respect to the property in Section 32, the Landowners maintain that a private home- 4 No. 07-1348 steader initially acquired title to the property in 1882 by patent from the United States, without the United States retaining any reversionary interest. Approximately seven months later, the state condemned a portion of this property, completely outside any federal land grant program. The County disagrees with the Landowners’ characterization of the property interest over the railway line in Section 32. The Act of 1852 granted a right-of-way to railways “charted within ten years hereafter” on the United States’s public lands, with construction then needing to be completed within the next fifteen years. Ch. 80, § 1, 10 Stat. 28 (1852). The County maintains that the railway line in Section 32 is covered by this Act because, even though construction on the line did not begin until the mid-1870’s, the railroad filed a map with the Land Office in 1858 that showed the intended railway line. The County argues that court decisions have not required railroads to have strictly complied with statutorily imposed time limits, and that thus, with the Act of 1852 applying here, the United States retained a reversionary interest in the property. According to the County, the 1882 land grant to the homesteader and subsequent state condemnation proceeding did not affect the United States’s reversionary interest in the railway line. B. Congress’s Scheme for the United States’s Reversionary Interests The basis for finding that the United States holds a reversionary interest in the railway lines can be traced back to a 1903 Supreme Court decision, where the Court characterized railroad grants as a “limited fee, made on an implied condition of reverter in the event that the comNo. 07-1348 5 pany ceased to use or retain the land for the purpose for which it was granted.” Mauler, 309 F.3d at 1001 (quoting Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. Townsend, 190 U.S. 267, 271 (1903)). Subsequently, in 1922, Congress passed the Abandoned Railroad Right of Way Act, 43 U.S.C. § 912, which addressed how Congress wished to dispose of its reversionary interest. Id., at 999. Section 912 provided that when a railway line was declared abandoned by a proper court or by Congress, the United States’s reversionary interest would vest in the adjacent landowner, unless the abandoned line was converted into a public highway within one year of the declaration of abandonment. 43 U.S.C. § 912.1 At approximately the same time, 1 The full text of 43 U.S.C. § 912 provides: Whenever public lands of the United States have been or may be granted to any railroad company for use as a right of way for its railroad or as sites for railroad structures of any kind, and use and occupancy of said lands for such purposes has ceased or shall hereafter cease, whether by forfeiture or by abandonment by said railroad company declared or decreed by a court of competent jurisdiction or by Act of Congress, then and thereupon all right, title, interest, and estate of the United States in said lands shall, except such part thereof as may be embraced in a public highway legally established within one year after the date of said decree or forfeiture or abandonment be transferred to and vested in any person, firm, or corporation, assigns, or successors in title and interest to whom or to which title of the United States may have been or may be granted, conveying or purporting to convey the whole of the legal subdivision or subdivisions traversed or occupied by such railroad or railroad structures of any kind as aforesaid, except lands within a municipality the title to which, upon forfeiture or abandonment, as herein (continued...) 6 No. 07-1348 Congress also passed another law permitting the railroads to sell their right of way to state or local governments to establish public highways.2 Pub. L. No. 66-217, 41 Stat. 621 (enacted in 1920, codified at 43 U.S.C. § 913). In an effort to preserve these abandoned railway lines for use as trails, Congress amended § 912 in 1988. 16 U.S.C. § 1248(c). Under this amendment, abandoned railway lines would no longer pass to the adjacent landowner, but instead the United States would retain title to the property, provided again that the line was not converted to a public highway within one year of a determination of abandonment.3 Id. 1 (...continued) provided, shall vest in such municipality, and this by virtue of the patent thereto and without the necessity of any other or further conveyance or assurance of any kind or nature whatsoever. . . . 2 This statute, 43 U.S.C. § 913, reads in full: All railroad companies to which grants for rights of way through the public lands have been made by Congress, or their successors in interest or assigns, are hereby authorized to convey to any State, county, or municipality any portion of such right of way to be used as a public highway or street: Provided, That no such conveyance shall have the effect to diminish the right of way of such railroad company to a less width than fifty feet on each side of the center of the main tract of the railroad as now established and maintained. 3 The full text of this amendment, 16 U.S.C. § 1248(c), reads: Commencing upon the date of enactment of this subsection [enacted Oct. 4, 1988], any and all right, title, interest, and estate of the United States in all rights-of-way of the type described in the Act of March 8, 1922 (43 U.S.C. 912), (continued...) No. 07-1348 7 C. Dissolution of the Railway Line In addition to disputing whether the United States maintained a reversionary interest in these railway lines, the County and the Landowners also dispute whether the railway lines have already been abandoned in accord with § 912 and § 1248(c). In 1974, the Chicago & North Western Transportation Company filed a Notice of Proposed Abandonment with the Interstate Commerce Commission (“ICC”) with respect to the portion of railway line running through Bayfield County that is relevant to this case. Then, in 1978, the ICC issued a Certificate and Order permitting the abandonment of the railway line. One month later, in April 1978, the railroad cancelled its tariffs on the line, and in 1980, the railroad pulled up the tracks. In November 1979, soon before the tracks were pulled up, the County had declined an opportunity to purchase this right-of-way. According to the Landowners, the railway line was abandoned in accord with the terms of § 912 in either 1978 or 1980,4 while the County contends that a proper 3 (...continued) shall remain in the United States upon the abandonment or forfeiture of such rights-of-way, or portions thereof, except to the extent that any such right-of-way, or portion thereof, is embraced within a public highway no later than one year after a determination of abandonment or forfeiture, as provided under such Act. 4 The Landowners offer various theories as to why this is the case, including: 1) that the ICC’s 1978 Certificate and Order operated as an Act of Congress; 2) that the decision in State v. Holmgren, 332 N.W.2d 311 (Wis. Ct. App. 1983), holding that (continued...) 8 No. 07-1348 declaration of abandonment has not yet been issued. Regardless, while the County disputes the validity of the following actions, on March 4, 1980, the railroad executed a quitclaim deed purporting to convey its interests over all the property at issue to the SC Johnsons. The SC Johnsons then donated the majority of these lands to the Forest Service, while retaining some of the land for themselves, and issuing quitclaim deeds to other parties, including the Hawksfords and DK Johnsons, whose properties abutted the right of way. D. Procedural History This lawsuit arose out of the County’s ongoing efforts to convert and integrate abandoned railway lines into the 500 miles of snowmobile trails that already exist in the County. See Travel Info: Ashland and Bayfield County, Snowmobile Report & Information, http://www. travelbayfieldcounty.com/files/rsnowmobilefr.html (last visited March 14, 2008). In the hopes of preventing the County from moving forward with its plan, the Landowners filed an action in federal court against the County and the United States seeking declaratory relief, see 28 U.S.C. § 2201, under the Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2409a. On 4 (...continued) the railway lines over other properties in Bayfield County had been abandoned, similarly served as a “decree[ ] by a court of competent jurisdiction” that the property at issue in this suit had been abandoned; and 3) that the court can make its declaration of abandonment retroactive, such that this court or the district court could issue a declaration that the railway line was abandoned in 1978. See Vieux v. East Bay Regional Park Dist., 906 F.2d 1330, 1340 (9th Cir. 1990). No. 07-1348 9 November 1, 2006, the Landowners filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that § 912, § 913, and § 1248(c) were inapplicable because the United States had not retained any reversionary interests over the former railway lines, and alternatively, that the railway lines had been abandoned for purposes of § 912 in 1978, and thus the County could no longer lay claim to the property. The County filed its brief opposing the Landowners’ motion for summary judgment on November 21, 2006, disputing both of the Landowners’ claims. On that same date, the United States filed a Disclaimer of Interest in the property. This Disclaimer, submitted by the United States Attorney’s Office, stated that the United States had determined that the lands in question had been deeded without the United States retaining any reversionary interest in the property, and that accordingly, the United States, under 28 U.S.C. § 2409a(e), disclaimed all interest in the property at issue in this suit. The following day, the district court issued an order confirming the Disclaimer of Interest. Subsequently, the Landowners filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the Disclaimer resolved the issues in their favor in the case. On January 19, 2007, the district court dismissed the United States from the case and issued its Memorandum and Order on the Landowners’ motions. After establishing that despite the Disclaimer, an independent basis for federal jurisdiction still existed, see 28 U.S.C. § 2409a(e), the district court proceeded to analyze the impact the Disclaimer had on the County’s asserted property rights over the railway lines. The court determined that the County did not acquire any interest in the railway lines until after they were abandoned, and that prior to that date, the United States could treat its reversionary interests as it wished. Accordingly, assuming abandonment had not yet occurred, 10 No. 07-1348 the United States’s Disclaimer of Interest destroyed any property interest the County had in the railway lines. Based on these findings, the district court granted the Landowners’ motion for summary judgment and provided declaratory relief to the Landowners by quieting title in their favor with respect to any claim to the property made by the County under 43 U.S.C. § 912 or 16 U.S.C. § 1248(c).