Heirs Of H P Guerra v. United States

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

This is a saga from the border, worthy of the creativity of Cormac McCarthy. Its roots are earlier, but for our purposes, its genesis is the 1949 condemnation of mineral rights taken as part of the construction of the Falcon dam and reservoir along the U.S.-Mexican border. The government condemned approximately 3,000 acres of Horace Guerra’s land and the accompanying mineral rights and compensated him pursuant to a final judgment. Guerra and later his heirs repeatedly requested re-vestment of the mineral rights. The government refused and by the…