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Lynda Like, et al. v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 17-3075, 17-3076, 17-3115, 17-3116 · judgment October 30, 2018

Certiorari denied · May 28, 2019

Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. § 717f(h)) delegates to certain private companies the ordinary eminent domain power: that is, the power to bring a condemnation lawsuit and then buy land at an adjudicated price after final judgment. The Act does not delegate the separate power to take immediate possession of land. Notwithstanding the Act’s limited delegation, are district courts empowered to enter preliminary injunctions giving private companies immediate possession of land before final judgment in Natural Gas Act condemnations?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert James McNamara
Institute for Justice

For respondent
Elizabeth Utz Witmer
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

May 28 2019
Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Owners' Counsel of America, et al. GRANTED.
May 28 2019
Petition DENIED.
May 07 2019
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/23/2019.
May 02 2019
Reply of petitioners Lynda Like, et al. filed.
Apr 17 2019
Brief of respondent Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC in opposition filed.
Apr 09 2019
Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Owners' Counsel of America, et al.
Mar 13 2019
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 17, 2019)