Illinois Central Railroad v. Mayeux

DENNIS, Circuit Judge:

Illinois Central Railroad Co. seeks to expropriate a strip of private property for the purpose of building a rail spur to a chemical storage facility on the Mississippi River. Under Louisiana law, a railroad company may expropriate private property only if it establishes a “public and necessary purpose” for the expropriation. The district court granted Illinois Central’s motion for partial summary judgment on that issue, finding that the railroad established a public and necessary purpose as a matter of law. Because we find a genuine factual dispute over whether the…