City of Buckley v. Burlington Northern Railroad Corp.

The sole issue in this case is whether 43 U.S.C. § 912 (1982) entitles a municipality to receive the United States' reversionary interest in an abandoned railroad right of way granted to a railroad company pursuant to the Northern Pacific Land Grant Act of 1864, if the municipality had not received a patent to the underlying fee. We hold § 912 does entitle a municipality to the federal government's reversionary interest, and that the trial court erred in granting respondent's motion for summary judgment.

I

On July 2, 1864, Congress created the Northern Pacific Railroad Company under the…