Eminent Domain, Ultra Vires, and Adverse Possession Walk Into a Bar…
“The property in question is a strip of land between 50 and 82 feet wide in Manchester. The property was cobbled together in 1902 from neighboring landowners and conveyed in three deeds to the Manchester, Dorset & Granville Railroad Company (“MD&G”). Before it took title, the MD&G conducted and recorded a survey to determine where the line would be. MD&G laid tracks and used the line mostly to transport marble for about ten years. MD&G quit using it in 1918, revived it in 1924, and dismantled it in 1934. MD&G sold to Vermont Marble Company, who merged with OMYA, Inc. in 1992. In 2009, plaintiff Old Railroad Bed, LLC bought the property from OMYA to build a public recreational trail.
Defendants own the neighboring land and are the successors to the folks who originally gave the property to MD&G in 1902: the Marcuses, the Wests, and the Dykes. Defendants or their predecessors variously pastured livestock, cleared trees, grew hay, and maintained fences on the property for years. Defendants decided they didn’t want a public trail on the railbed. Plaintiff filed suit to kick defendants off their lawn recreational path and stop them from interfering.
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Killoran, Nicole. SCOV Legal Blog 6 June 2014.