Barlow Ranch, Limited Partnership v. Greencore Pipeline Company LLC

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court reviewed consolidated appeals arising from Greencore Pipeline Company LLC’s condemnation of pipeline easements across property owned by Barlow Ranch, Limited Partnership. The court held that comparable easement transactions may be considered in determining just compensation for a partial taking and that annual payments are permissible under Wyoming law, but it upheld the ruling that abandonment of the pipeline in place was not yet properly before the court. The judgment was affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

Holdings

1. Wyoming Statutes §§ 1-26-702 and 1-26-704 require or permit the use of fair-market-value principles in both complete and partial takings, including consideration of prices paid for comparable easements or leases.
2. The district court applied incorrect legal standards and clearly erred by categorically rejecting Barlow's proposed easements as non-arms'-length or noncomparable and by relying on an unadjusted average of Greencore's other easement payments.
3. Wyoming law does not prohibit annual or continuing payments as part of just compensation for a condemned easement; whether such payments are appropriate is a factual matter for the district court on remand.
4. The issue whether Greencore must remove the pipeline upon abandonment was not ripe for decision because the reasonableness and scope of reclamation could not be determined until abandonment actually occurred.

Questions Presented

1. Whether comparable easement transactions may be considered in determining just compensation for a partial taking of real property for a pipeline easement.
2. Whether the district court properly determined that Barlow's proposed easement transactions were not arms'-length transactions or sufficiently comparable.
3. Whether Wyoming law permits annual or continuing payments as part of compensation for a condemned easement.
4. Whether Greencore was entitled to a present ruling allowing it to abandon the pipeline in place when its use terminated.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded