State v. Illinois Central Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 22 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2004 CA 1789.,No. 2005 CW 0886.,2004 CA 1789.,2005 CW 0886.
• Citation: 928 So.2d 60
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY d/b/a Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad, Capital Marine Supply, and CTC Minerals, Inc.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

928 So.2d 60

STATE of Louisiana v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY d/b/a Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad, Capital Marine Supply, and CTC Minerals, Inc.

No. 2004 CA 1789.

No. 2005 CW 0886.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 22, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Leon Gary, Jr., William L. Schuette, Antonio D. Robinson, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee State of Louisiana.

Scott N. Hensgens, Douglas K. Williams, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant (1st) Illinois Central Railroad Co.

C. Michael Hart, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant (2nd) Capital Marine Supply, Inc.

Before: KUHN, GUIDRY, and PETTIGREW, JJ.

KUHN, J.

These proceedings involve a suit filed by the State of Louisiana ("the State") against defendants, Illinois Central Railroad Company d/b/a/ Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad ("ICRR") and Capital Marine Supply, Inc. ("Capital Marine"). We consider the trial court's ruling sustaining in part and denying in part ICRR's exception raising the objection of lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and specifically whether the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995, Pub.L. No. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995), codified at 49 U.S.C. § 10101, et seq. ("the ICCTA") preempts the State's various claims, such that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to resolve them. The State seeks to be declared owner of certain property in question, to have competing interests in the property declared invalid and to recover various monetary awards for trespass and environmental damages. Additionally, the State seeks reimbursement for various economic benefits allegedly received by defendants and to recover costs incurred to clear the State's title.

ICRR asserts the State's suit is an attempt to force a railroad abandonment and that the question of abandonment is committed to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board ("STB"), before which neither party has instituted an abandonment proceeding. Considering the nature of the State's claims and the language of the federal patent upon which the State's ownership claim rests, we find the State's claims cannot be resolved without first determining whether the property has ceased to be used or occupied as provided in the patent. Because the ICCTA expressly provides that exclusive jurisdiction over railroad abandonment proceedings rests with the STB and because the STB has not yet ruled upon the abandonment issue presented herein, we find the trial court did not have jurisdiction to resolve the claims set forth in the State's petition. Accordingly, we conclude the trial court should have sustained the exception raising the objection of lack of subject matter jurisdiction with regard to all of the State's claims.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In July 2000, the State filed a petitory action against defendants.¹ In its petition, the State claimed it was the legal owner of certain property located in East Baton Rouge Parish, which it described as follows:

A certain tract of land containing approximately 19.4 acres, situated in East Baton [Rouge] Parish, Louisiana, and being all of Sections 44 and 71, T-7-S, R-1W, St. Helena Meridian, lying westward of a line 100 feet east of the center line of the railroad track of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, including any and all batture and accretions thereto, and all appurtenances and rights therein ... (the "Property").

In its petition, the State alleged that: 1) prior to 1884, the Property formed part of a United States military garrison and barracks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that was under the control of the Secretary of War; and 2) on September 6, 1884, the garrison was declared to be public lands of the United States, and control was transferred to the Secretary of the Interior of the United States by executive order.²

A July 12, 1886 act of the Forty-Ninth Congress, Session 1, Chapter 765, 24 Stat. 144, provided, in pertinent part:

That the Secretary of the Interior ... is hereby authorized and directed to transfer to the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Baton Rouge, possession of the buildings and grounds of the United States barracks at Baton Rouge, for the purposes of the said university and college, except that portion of said grounds that lies westward of a line one hundred feet east of the center of the railroad track of the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railway Company, and said excepted lands may be used and occupied by said railroad company; but should said railroad company cease to use and occupy said lands, then the possession shall revert to the United States: PROVIDED HOWEVER, that the board of managers of the said university and college shall keep the buildings in good repair and insured for the use of the United States: AND PROVIDED, FURTHER, that whenever the said buildings and grounds cease to be used for educational purposes by the said university and college or when required by the Secretary of War for the use of the United States the possession of the same shall revert to the Government of the United States.

(Emphasis added.)³

An April 28, 1902 act of the 57th Congress, Public Law No. 85, provided with respect to the transfer of title to the military reservation:

That the Secretary of the Interior ... is hereby, authorized and directed to transfer to the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, full and complete title to the buildings and grounds of the United States barracks at Baton Rouge for the purposes of said university and college, except that portion of said ground that lies westward of a line one hundred feet east of the center of the railroad track of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad Company, and said excepted land may be used and occupied by said railroad company, and should said railroad cease to use and occupy said land then the title shall revert to said university.

(Emphasis added.)

A federal patent, dated February 20, 1903, further provided in pertinent part:

That the United States of America ... in conformity with the provisions of the [above-referenced 1902 Act of Congress authorizing a transfer of title] have given and granted and by these presents do give and grant unto the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural Mechanical College; in trust for said University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, all title of the United States to the buildings and grounds of the United States barracks at Baton Rouge, in the United States of Louisiana, for the purposes of said University and College, which said land has been surveyed and designated as Sections Forty-four and Seventy-one of township seven South of range one West, Saint Helena Meridian, State of Louisiana, containing two hundred and eleven acres and fifty-six hundredths of an acre, according to the official plat of survey returned to the General Land Office by the Surveyor General, excepting therefrom a parcel of ground containing about two acres and forty-five hundredths of an acre granted to the Roman Catholic Congregation of Saint Joseph's Church of the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in trust for said congregation by Act of Congress, approved September 30, 1890 (26 Stats. 503) and further excepting therefrom that portion of land that lies westward of a line one hundred feet east of the center of the railroad track of the Louisiana, New Orleans and Texas Railroad Company, which land may be used and occupied by said railroad Company, but should said railroad cease to use and occupy the said land, then the title thereto shall vest in the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in trust for said University and Agricultural and Mechanical College as aforesaid to have and to hold in trust, as aforesaid, all of said described land together with the buildings thereon, subject to the easement of the said Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad Company, aforesaid unto the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and its successors and assigns forever.

(Emphasis added.)

Based on these transactions, the State alleged that the fee simple title to the Property was transferred to the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University. By an authentic act dated January 11, 1951, the Board of Supervisors purported to formally donate and transfer record title to the Property to the State.⁴

When the State filed the present suit, however, it acknowledged it did not have possession of the Property. The parties stipulated that ICRR, a common carrier by rail, currently operates interstate rail service over tracks which are on and across the property described in the 1902 Act of Congress and the 1903 patent as the property which lies west of a line 100 feet east of the centerline of the tracks of the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railway Company ("LNTR"). The parties also stipulated that ICRR is a successor to LNTR. The parties further stipulated that ICRR and its predecessors have continuously operated railroad tracks over the property for more than one hundred years, and they continue to do so presently.⁵

The State's petition addressed ICRR's possession of the Property as follows, in pertinent part:

10.

Based on information and belief, at some time prior to the transfer of control of the Property to the Secretary of the Interior in 1884, the Secretary of War of the United States allowed the tracks of the New Orleans and Mississippi Valley Railroad ("NOMV") to traverse a restricted portion of the grounds of the Garrison limited to the width of the tracks.

11.

The State believes that NOMV transferred any rights that it possessed in the Baton Rouge railway line to [LNTR]. The State further believes that the [LNTR] transferred any rights that it acquired to the...