As Mel Brooks once said, “It’s good to be the King.” That’s especially true in eminent domain law. Even when you’re not the King.
Exhibit A: the plaintiff in this federal condemnation action was a railroad, the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation. It brought suit against 97.943 acres of land, more or less, in Wyoming. But really agains the owners of those acres, Mr. and Mrs. Simmons.
Did the railroad need the land? Not really. It admitted it couldn’t build the project in the foreseeable future. It filed the action on the eve of the date that Wyoming’s post-Kelo eminent domain reform statutes took effect, leading to the inference it was merely land banking.
So the property owners fought the condemnation. But after a two week trial, on the eve of the district court issuing its ruling, the railroad — perhaps sensing the handwriting on the wall — filed a notice of dismissal (which, under Rule 71.1(i) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it could do without leave of court). The property owners sought their costs, but the court denied the request because there was no legal basis which to assess fees and costs. The court recognized that the taking was abusive and that the dismissal was a “complete vindication” of the property owner’s arguments, but could find no law that allowed cost shifting:
The Court is mindful that the amount of costs Defendants seek to recover in this action is only a fraction of the money they actually spent to defend their property rights from what, in the Court’s view, was an abuse of the condemnation process. Plaintiffs initiated this condemnation action for a project that was always speculative, at best. By their conduct, Plaintiffs have squandered not only a great deal of the Defendants’ hard-earned money, but also a great deal of this Court’s time. The Court makes this comment for the benefit of its judicial colleagues in this and other districts, so that they might look at any similar conduct by the railroad with a jaundiced eye.
Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. v. 97.943 Acres of Land, No. 07-CV-143D (July 21, 2011), slip op. at 6. The court concluded with a wish that it had the power to award costs to the property owners because it would be “sound public policy.” But because implementation of public policy is a matter for the legislature, the court had no basis to do so. While the judge’s hope that other courts might put the kibosh on the railroad if it tried the same stunt elsewhere, the fact remains that there aren’t many tools available to stop it were it to do so.
It really is good to be the King.
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