United States of America, Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Intervening v. The Stearns Company

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

The Stearns Company (“Stearns”) appeals the District Court’s denial of relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). Stearns sought reconsideration of the District Court’s earlier finding that Stearns did not possess the right to remove minerals by strip mining from a parcel of land it deeded to the United States in 1937. Specifically, Stearns asked the District Court to reconsider the case in light of the Kentucky Supreme Court case of Akers v. Baldwin, 736 S.W.2d 294 (Ky.1987), which redefined Kentucky law as it related to the dominance of a mineral estate over…