Brown v. Board of County Commissioners for Pennington County

WUEST, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Pennington County (County), appeals a judgment in favor of Barbara and Milton Brown (Browns), who were awarded damages based on an action in inverse condemnation. We reverse.

Sometime in the late 1800’s, one Joseph J. Reynolds staked a claim to real estate in Pennington County now owned by the Browns. In 1892, Mr. Reynolds filed a mineral survey which showed a road running through his property. The road was originally built by Reynolds as a private toll road. The original Reynolds Ranch served as a stagecoach stop enroute to Deadwood.

As the decades passed, this…