Douglas R. Bigelow Trust v. United States

OPINION

ALLEGRA, Judge:

Plaintiffs are landowners in Michigan, who allege that their property was taken as a result of the National Trails System Act (the Trails Act), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1241-51. The court certified a class on March 23, 2011. Pending are cross-motions for partial summary judgment regarding defendant’s liability as to one of the parcels at issue. For the reasons that follow, the court holds, as a matter of law, that there was no takings of that parcel, as the prior owner had conveyed fee title to the property to a railroad.

I. BACKGROUND

This case involves a railroad corridor that runs…