Case Information
*1 In the United States Court of Federal Claims Nos. 14-21L/16-405L (Consolidated) (Filed: December 1, 2017) ) Keywords: Rails-to-Trails Taking; ELLEN AND MARK S. BALAGNA, et ) Motion for Reconsideration; RCFC al., ) 59(a).
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Plaintiffs, )
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v. )
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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
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Defendant. )
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ROBERT AND SUSAN BATTERTON, )
et al., )
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Plaintiffs, )
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v. )
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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
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Defendant. )
) Mark F. (“ Thor ”) Hearne, II , Arent Fox LLP, Washington, DC, with whom were Meghan S. Largent , Lindsay S.C. Brinton , Stephen S. Davis , and Abram J. Pafford , for Plaintiffs.
Sarah Izfar , Trial Attorney, Natural Resources Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, with whom was Jeffrey H. Wood , Assistant Attorney General, for Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER KAPLAN, Judge.
On October 5, 2017, the Court granted the government’s motions for summary
judgment as to all the remaining plaintiffs in these consolidated rails-to-trails cases. See
Balagna v. United States, --- Fed. Cl. ---,
BACKGROUND
The relevant facts were fully set forth in the Court’s October 5, 2017 Opinion, and
are restated here only in brief. See Balagna,
After briefing on the government’s partial motions was complete, the Court ordered supplemental briefs from the parties. See Suppl. Briefing Order, ECF No. 92. In that Order, the Court observed that it was unclear whether “Illinois has delegated to park districts like CPD the State’s authority (acting through its legislature) to dispose of or interfere with property interests that belong to other municipal corporations, such as the City [and the Village].” Id. at 3. The Court thus asked the parties to brief the issue of “whether and to what extent Illinois law gives park districts the authority to appropriate for their own use land belonging to other municipal corporations.” Id.
After receiving the parties’ supplemental briefs and hearing oral argument, the
Court ultimately granted the government’s motions with respect to the City and the
Village on grounds that differed somewhat from those it raised in the supplemental
briefing order. See Balagna,
DISCUSSION
Under RCFC 59(a), the Court may grant a motion for reconsideration “(A) for any
reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal
court; (B) for any reason for which a rehearing has heretofore been granted in a suit in
equity in federal court; or (C) upon the showing of satisfactory evidence, cumulative or
otherwise, that any fraud, wrong, or injustice has been done to the United States.” To
meet this standard, a party generally must demonstrate that the court has committed a
“manifest error of law[] or mistake of fact.” Johnson v. United States,
The City and Village have misunderstand the reasoning supporting the Court’s October 5, 2017 decision. The Court did not conclude that CPD had powers of condemnation under state law that it could have used to obtain property belonging to the City or the Village, nor would it have characterized such a conclusion as “uncontested.” Rather, the Court assumed that—irrespective of whether CPD possessed the authority under state law to condemn City or Village property—it did have authority under state law to file a Request for Public Use Condition and Request for Interim Trail Use (Request) with the STB. And in light of the fact that the state may dispose of the property of the Village and the City as it sees fit, the Court concluded that when CPD exercised this authority under state law, it consented on the state’s behalf to the taking of the City’s and the Village’s property by the federal government.
Further, the Court did not err when it stated that Plaintiffs did not previously
contest that CPD had the authority under state law to invoke the interim trail use process.
Thus, although Plaintiffs’ counsel initially responded “absolutely not” when asked at oral
argument whether CPD acted within its authority when it filed the Request, she later
walked back that statement, observing that Illinois law was “silent” regarding the issue.
Tr. of Hearing at 51, 54 (Sept. 20, 2017), ECF No. 135; see also id. at 53 (“I don’t know
that they’re prohibited [from filing the Request], but I don’t know that they’re allowed.”).
Finally, and in any event, the Court agrees with the government that CPD’s
actions, including its decision to file the Request, are to be accorded a presumption of
regularity and that principles of federalism dictate that this Court not referee whether
*4
CPD possessed the authority under state law to file its request with the STB. See The
United States’ Suppl. Br. in Support of Its Mots. for Partial Summ. J. Against Pls. The
City of Canton and The Village of Norris (Def.’s Suppl. Br.) at 5–7, ECF No. 98. To the
contrary, issues regarding the relative powers of a state’s subdivisions lie within the
province of Illinois’ state courts. See Wilmette Park Dist. v. Vill. of Wilmette, 490
N.E.2d 1282, 1283 (Ill. 1986); City of Des Plaines v. Metro. Sanitary Dist., 268 N.E.2d
428, 430 (Ill. 1971); Vill. of Schiller Park v. City of Chicago,
In summary, Plaintiffs’ assertion that the Court erred by presuming that CPD acted within its authority under state law when it filed the Request is unpersuasive. Accordingly, the Plaintiffs have not shown that the Court has committed a manifest error of fact or law. Their motion for reconsideration is therefore DENIED .
CONCLUSION For the reasons discussed above, Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration is IT IS SO ORDERED.
s/ Elaine D. Kaplan ELAINE D. KAPLAN Judge
Notes
[1] To the Court’s knowledge, CPD and BNSF have not yet finalized a trail use agreement.
See Balagna,
