Department of Transportation v. Gypsum Ranch Co.

The department petitioned for review of the court of appeals' judgment in Gypsum Ranch Co. v. Board of County Commissioners, 219 P.3d 365 (Colo.App.2009), reversing summary judgment in its favor in an action by Gypsum Ranch to quiet title to the mineral estate in property previously condemned for a highway. The district court had found that in the earlier condemnation proceedings the department acquired a fee simple estate in the disputed parcel of land, to include the subsurface mineral estate. By contrast, the court of appeals concluded that the department could not have acquired the…