Mauler v. Bayfield County
| Decision Date | 04 December 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-C-742-C.,00-C-742-C. |
| Citation | 204 F.Supp.2d 1168 |
| Parties | Douglas R. MAULER and Judith A. Mauler, Plaintiffs, v. BAYFIELD COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Wisconsin, and Union Pacific Railroad Company, a foreign railroad corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin |
Jon Erik Kingstad, Woodbury, MN, for Plaintiffs.
Richard K. Nordeng, Stafford Rosenbaum, LLP, Madison, WI, for Bayfield County.
Bruce A. Schultz, Coyne, Niess, Schultz, Becker & Bauer, Madison, WI, for Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Frank Remington, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, WI, for State of Wisconsin (amicus brief).
In this civil action for declaratory relief, plaintiffs Douglas R. Mauler and Judith A. Mauler contend that defendant Union Pacific Railroad Company or its predecessors in interest abandoned the right-of-way that traverses their property and the reversionary rights should fall to them. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the former railroad right-of-way traversing their property is "abandoned," thereby quieting the title to the right-of-way against defendants and vesting it in plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also seek a declaration that the Abandoned Railroad Right of Way Act of 1922, 43 U.S.C. § 912, was repealed by the National Trails System Improvement Act of 1988, 16 U.S.C. § 1248(c). Jurisdiction is present under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
Presently before the court are plaintiffs' and defendant Bayfield County's cross-motions for summary judgment. Because I find that § 912 and § 1248(c) apply to the right-of-way, that the railroad conveyed the right-of-way for a public highway and that defendant county has established a public highway along the right-of-way, I conclude that plaintiffs have no legal title to or interest in the right-of-way. Further, I find that the National Trails System Improvement Act of 1988, 16 U.S.C. § 1248(c), does not "repeal" the Abandoned Railroad Right of Way Act of 1922, 43 U.S.C. § 912, but modifies it to the extent that the reversionary right to abandoned railroad rights-of-way no longer falls to the adjoining landowner but to the United States. Because plaintiffs have no legal interest in the right-of-way at issue, they lack standing to seek a declaration that the right-of-way has been "abandoned" within the meaning of 43 U.S.C. § 912. I will grant defendant Bayfield County's motion for summary judgment and deny plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.
From the proposed findings of fact, I find the following facts to be material and undisputed.
Plaintiffs Douglas R. Mauler and Judy A. Mauler reside in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, on land located at Section 35, Township 47 North, Range 6 West, Town of Keystone and traversed by a railroad right-of-way. Defendant Union Pacific Railroad Company is a foreign corporation with its principal place of business in Omaha, Nebraska. Defendant Bayfield County is a political subdivision of the State of Wisconsin.
The abandoned railroad right-of-way at issue in this case, which I will refer to as "the strip," was originally a United States land grant to the State of Wisconsin transferred pursuant to the June 3, 1856 and the May 5, 1864 Acts of Congress. The 1856 Act granted to the State of Wisconsin:
every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers for six sections in width on each side [of the railroad to be constructed] . . .
The same language is adopted by reference in the 1864 Act. The Acts granted federal lands to the State of Wisconsin "for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad." The grants do not contain the phrase "right of way" but limit the manner in which states could dispose of the grant property, providing that "the said railroads shall be and remain public highways...."
In Wisconsin, railroads acquired interest in their rights-of-way by state patent, which included Section 35, as well as most other odd-numbered sections within ten miles of either side of the right-of-way. The State Act of 1874 authorized the North Wisconsin Railroad Company to receive a state patent. That company was subsequently consolidated with the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company. In 1884, the State of Wisconsin conveyed Section 35, Township 47, North Range 6 to the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company in fee simple, "in pursuance of the said several Acts of Congress." The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company was a predecessor to the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company.
In November 1884, the Chicago and North Western conveyed Section 35 to a John Canfield with the following reservation:
The said party of the first part [the Railroad], however, hereby expressly reserves to itself, its successors and assigns forever, the right to occupy a strip of land one hundred feet in width through, over, and across the premises granted as aforesaid, or any part thereof, the said strip to be included within two lines, each parallel with and distant 50 feet from, the center line of the railway of the party of the first part, as the same is now constructed and operated, or as the same may hereafter be located, constructed and operated....
The Chicago and North Western occupied and used the 100 foot wide strip of land as a right-of-way for its railroad for many years. On February 28, 1978, the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the abandonment of the line and discontinuance of service. No abandonment of the railroad line has yet been declared or decreed by a court of competent jurisdiction or by an Act of Congress. After the Interstate Commerce Commission certification, the Chicago and North Western discontinued railroad service on the line, removed the railroad tracks, ties, ballast and other structures from the strip and ceased paying taxes on the strip. On July 3, 1986, the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation issued a Statement of Release in Interest. The statement provides that the state "releases any interest or right that it may have by virtue of Section 85.09, Wis. Stats., . . . [in the Railroad's] abandoned line," including the strip.
In May 1989, the Chicago and North Western conveyed the strip to the Bayfield County Snowmobile Alliance, a Wisconsin nonprofit corporation. In June 1989, the Alliance reconveyed the strip to defendant Bayfield County, which paid for the strip with public funds. The county maintains and patrols the strip as a snowmobile trail at public expense. The strip is promoted for public use by the defendant county and is used widely by the public as a snowmobile trail and for hiking, biking, horseback riding and other recreational uses.
Plaintiffs believe that they are the legal owners of the land described as follows:
The Southeast One Quarter (SE 1/4) of the Northeast One Quarter (NE 1/4), Section Thirty-five (35), Township Forty-seven (47), North Range Six (6) West; and
North 360 feet of the Northeast Quarter (NE1/4) of the Southeast Quarter (SE 1/4), Section Thirty-five (35), Township Forty-seven (47), North Range Six (6) West.
The warranty deed that covers the majority of this land contains the following language: "Exception to warranties: Subject to and together with all easements, restrictions, reservations, and exceptions as may constitute or otherwise affect the chain of title to said premises." Plaintiffs acquired the remainder of the property through a quitclaim deed, which conveys the property described in the deed "less rights of way of record."
Bisecting plaintiffs' land is a 100 foot wide strip of land that is legally described as follows:
A strip of land 100 feet in width extending over and across the East Half of the East Half of Section 35, Township 47 North, Range 6 West of the Fourth Principal Meridian, said strip of land being 50 feet in width on either side of the center line of the main track (now removed) of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company (now the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company), as said main track center line was originally located and established over and across said Section 35.
In the spring of 1997, plaintiffs erected and maintained a five foot high wooden barrier across a cleared path on the strip in order to prevent people from driving snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles and hunting on their land and the strip. On November 28, 1997, Patricia Thornton of the Bayfield County Tourism and Recreation Department told plaintiffs to remove the barrier. Several days later, unidentified persons took down the barrier without plaintiffs' consent. Plaintiffs reconstructed the wooden barrier in the spring of 1998 and agreed to remove it in November 1998, after defendant Bayfield County filed a lawsuit against them.
On October 27, 1998, defendant Bayfield County filed an action in the Circuit Court for Bayfield County against plaintiffs, seeking a declaratory judgment that it has a legally valid interest in the strip and a right to use and maintain the strip as part of a snowmobile trail and an injunction enjoining plaintiffs from blocking the portion of the snowmobile trail crossing their property. On September 3, 1998, the circuit court issued an order in which it declared that defendant Bayfield County has a legally valid interest in the strip and a legal right to use and maintain the strip
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...Defendant sees no reason for the court to address this issue because the court decided it in defendant's favor in Mauler v. Bayfield County, 204 F.Supp.2d 1168 (W.D.Wis.2001), which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mauler v. Bayfield County, 309 F.3d 997 (7th Ci......
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Samuel C. Johnson 1988 v. Bayfield County, Wis.
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