News

Lewis Rice's Federal Takings & Rails to Trails Practice Group has secured $1.95 million in just compensation for 74 landowners following the conversion of a former Missouri railroad corridor into the Rock Island Trail. The landowners, whose properties are located in Morgan, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Miller, Benton, Franklin, Pettis, and Cole counties, were impacted when railroad easements were transferred to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 2015 without their consent.

This significant result has been featured in coverage by the Jefferson City News-Tribune and St. Louis Magazine, highlighting the firm's continued success in representing landowners.

The settlement resolves claims brought under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which requires the government to provide just compensation when private property is taken for public use. As noted in the News-Tribune, Meghan stated: "The landowners in this lawsuit simply sought to exercise their rights under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits the taking of private property for public uses without providing compensation. That is an act of eminent domain, and the Constitution demands compensation."

Lewis Rice also represents an additional 17 landowners with related claims that are scheduled for trial against the federal government in November.

Lewis Rice's federal takings attorneys represent landowners throughout the United States pursuing takings claims against the federal government. One primary focus of the group is representing landowners in what is commonly referred to as rails to trails takings. Attorneys in this group litigate cases in the United States Court of Federal Claims on behalf of those whose property was taken by the federal government pursuant to the National Trails System Act, which authorizes abandoned railroad lines to be converted to public parks. The goal is to obtain compensation from the government for the taking of their land for the public recreational trail. The attorneys in the Federal Takings Practice Group focus on both proving the taking has occurred as well as establishing the value of the property that was taken. Their national work for landowners includes representing landowners coast-to-coast, including 11 states.