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Clinton L. Sides, et ux. v. Central Kansas Conservancy, Inc.

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Kansas, No. 119,605 · judgment May 17, 2019

Certiorari denied · May 4, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

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

Question presented

This case concerns the extent to which federal law permitting the rail-banking of unused railroad right-of-way so that it is not abandoned restricts the ability of the servient owner to establish a right to use the property pending reactivation for railroad purposes. The question presented is: Does federal law preclude the application of state adverse possession/prescriptive easement doctrines to trail-use easements created under the National Trail System Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d), such that the owner of the servient estate cannot establish a right to use the property pending its reactivation for railroad purposes?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Patrick B. Hughes
Adams Jones Law Firm, P.A.

For respondent
Casey R. Law
Wise & Reber, L.C.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. May 04 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 15 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/1/2020.
  3. Mar 24 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Central Kansas Conservancy, Inc. to respond filed.
  4. Mar 06 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 9, 2020)