Seemingly obscure easement law

after reading the article...

I think you're right about the expensive cars that will be purchased form this case.

ugh..of course its the surveyors fault.

Interesting article across the State line in Nevada.

From the article:
"During court testimony, Purdon stressed that his road was a private driveway that he maintained himself since buying the property in 1997 and has never been open for public use."

I don't think I can wrap my head around the concept of burdening the federal government, as a serviant estate, with an easement that arises from a private contract entered into by the two parties.

Very interesting case.

I know nothing of the Small Tract Act of 1938, but I was thinking as I was reading that the surveyor was taking some unwarranted actions.

Also, I'll bet Spittler wishes he had just ponied up $15K for the road across the US forest land.

Stephen

It does sound to me like the county surveyor screwed up big time. When a county official tells you there is an easement, and provides a map of the easement, it seems like Spittler had every right to rely on this. Problem is, the county surveyor was apparently basing this on law that was repealed 30 years ago and may not have applied to this tract, anyway ... From what I've seen, courts will never grant a "right of way of necessity" to a tract when a right of way already exists, so Spittler's application for a right of way across the NFS tract pretty much ended that.

Now, Spittler will sue the county/county surveyor, and try to recover what he lost here … more money for lawyers.

What??

"One is the repeal of the Small Tract Act in 1976."

What? The Small Tract Act was repealed in 1976? I thought that was about when it was created, and I have seen a number of them performed since then... Can anyone elaborate on this?

What??

james,

I noticed that too...

FLPMA repealed a boatload of "land disposal laws," but the USFS "Small Tracts Act" was NOT one of them.

See:

http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/disposal.shtml

I suspect that they were talking about something else.

Loyal

Very interesting,,,
We must have a lot more of these types of easements in the South because I see them all the time and we have a special process just to vacate them. I've never heard of them simply going away.

This is one of the MT plats in central Wyo showing some easements and patents.

There has to be some way to create access across Public lands. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any power or fuel or highways; at least for us in the west

Thanks Moe, It was a bonehead moment to not realize there are still lands held by the federal government through the BLM.

I suppose the reason that seemed so peculiar was the fact that any federal lands here in Texas are national parks, military installations, and maybe one or two other examples i'm not aware of.
In Texas, and off the top of my head, i believe it was around 1910 or 1912 when the State decreed there were no more excess state lands. All had been granted, sold or conveyed into private hands or public trusts.
It still kind of boggles the mind how any land can be conveyed without some implied access to a public route in perpetuity.

For R.J. Schneider

In Texas, and off the top of my head, i believe it was around 1910 or 1912 when the State decreed there were no more excess state lands. All had been granted, sold or conveyed into private hands or public trusts.

It still kind of boggles the mind how any land can be conveyed without some implied access to a public route in perpetuity.

I've heard from people that have spent time in Texas that one thing they didn't like is the lack of public land.

It's been said that in many places around here population can't grow because there isn't any land left. If a person wants to put a house or development on land without Federal Interest (which I highly recommend) it can be difficult to find such property in many areas.

It appears that the guy had one easement (he just had to spend $15,000 on a road that sounds like a bargin at this point) and a possible second one.