Sears v. United States

Post-trial determination of the just compensation due in a rails-to-trails case; value of the agricultural land taken for trail use; cost to reclaim; severance damages attributable to “point rows;” no preemption of Iowa statute guaranteeing access to fields otherwise landlocked by the trail

OPINION AND ORDER

LETTOW, Judge.

This post-trial opinion addresses claims by a subclass of plaintiffs who own sixteen parcels attendant to the right-of-way of a railroad line formerly operated by the Iowa River Railroad in Hardin and Marshall Counties, Iowa, that has been converted into a recreational trail…