Doing a Double Take: Rail-Trail Takings Litigation in the Post-Brandt Trust Era

51 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2015 Last revised: 10 Nov 2015

See all articles by Danaya C. Wright

Danaya C. Wright

University of Florida Levin College of Law

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

After providing a brief explanation of railroad development, railbanking, the takings cases, and the Brandt Trust decision, this Article will explore the implications of each of these three legal issues at the heart of the takings disputes. What makes the decision in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States particularly disappointing is not that the Court came to the wrong conclusion in its interpretation of the railroad’s interest in federally granted railroad rights of way (“FGROWs”) granted pursuant to the 1875 General Railroad Right of Way Act, but that its wrong interpretation adds all of the 1875 Act FGROW lands to the class of potential takings cases that already suffer serious legal and logical infirmities. The Court’s hasty decision simply compounds the disastrous effects of the Court of Federal Claims’ already disastrous takings jurisprudence in this area.

Keywords: takings, FGROW, railroads, 1875 General Railroad Right of Way Act, railbanking

Suggested Citation

Wright, Danaya C., Doing a Double Take: Rail-Trail Takings Litigation in the Post-Brandt Trust Era (2015). 39 Vt. L. Rev. 703 (2015), University of Florida Levin College of Law Research Paper No. 15-32, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2662530

Danaya C. Wright (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States
352-273-0946 (Phone)
352-392-3005 (Fax)

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
81
Abstract Views
1,630
Rank
623,282
PlumX Metrics