Yuba Natural Resources, Inc. v. United States

OPINION

PHILIP R. MILLER, Judge:

Plaintiffs, Yuba Natural Resources, Inc. (Yuba) and Placer Services Corporation (Placer), brought this suit in August 1980 seeking just compensation for the taking by the defendant, acting through the Army Corps of Engineers, of Yuba’s precious metal dredging rights (primarily gold deposits) on a tract of land in Yuba County, California, in which the government held the fee. The alleged taking occurred in April 1976, when the United States excluded plaintiffs from access to the claimed mineral rights.

However, almost 6 years later, after a district court upheld…