Twelve State Attorneys General Urge Supreme Court to Hear McKenzie County Eminent Domain Case

WASHINGTON—The case of North Dakota rancher Len Hoffmann and a small group of his neighbors attracted major support as the attorneys general from twelve states weighed in with the Supreme Court asking it to hear the case in the coming term. The McKenzie County ranchers fought for years to obtain a fair price for their land, and they prevailed. They won—but then a federal appeals court told them that they would have to pay the cost of that three-year fight themselves, forking over a significant chunk of the sales price of their land.

Under North Dakota law, property owners generally can’t be forced to pay for the costs of their own condemnation, but the appellate court said North Dakota law did not matter for private pipeline condemnations. Now, the ranchers have joined with the Institute for Justice (IJ), which protects property rights nationwide, to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.

The states joining together to urge the court to take the case—North and South Dakota, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas—are concerned that the ruling is at odds with every other appeals court to consider the subject and “does injury to the traditional role held by states in our federalist system for securing real property interests…” In every other federal jurisdiction, private pipeline companies must follow state law when compensating landowners for property taken for pipelines.

“Len and his fellow ranchers have always said that this fight was about more than them,” said IJ Attorney Matt Liles. “Seeing a dozen different states weigh in on their side confirms that their fight is about protecting property owners across the country, and they’re determined to do exactly that.”

The ranchers’ case also drew support from Owners’ Counsel of America, a nationwide property-rights nonprofit. That group’s brief points out that state law very frequently requires more compensation for property owners than federal law. Holding that state law doesn’t apply in these cases strikes through “a massive swath of property rights nationwide,” the brief says, causing devastating consequences not only for these ranchers but for other small landowners across the country.

“This case is about making sure pipeline companies have to play by the rules when they take private property,” concluded IJ Deputy Director of Litigation Robert McNamara. “Every other court to consider this issue has said they need to obey the compensation rules of the state where their pipeline sits, but in Len’s case, the court said private companies can toss those rules aside. We look forward to the Supreme Court setting things aright.”