Pipeline Company Seized Land, Left Owners With $383,000 Bill; Supreme Court to Weigh In
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving Leonard Hoffmann and other North Dakota ranchers whose land was seized by WBI Energy Transmission, a private pipeline company with eminent domain powers under the Natural Gas Act. The company offered about half the market value for the land. After a lawsuit, a district court ruled the company must pay the plaintiffs' legal fees of approximately $383,375, but the 8th Circuit reversed that decision, creating a split with four other circuits. North Dakota law allows such fee recovery, but federal law does not. The plaintiffs argue that without fee recovery, the constitutional guarantee of 'just compensation' is undermined. The case highlights a nationwide issue affecting millions of miles of pipelines and countless condemnation proceedings.
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