(rshsdepot) FW: just in case you hadn't heard.

["Kenyon Karl" <kenyon_@_getglobal.net>]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Craig Della Penna [mailto:rtccraig_@_transact.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 4:40 PM
To: Duncan Watson; Kenyon F. Karl; Bob Spoerl; Jeff Porter; Dick Mackay; Kit
Morgan; Bill Boudreau; Craig Weed
Subject: just in case you hadn't heard.


This past week, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State
of New Hampshire in a case involving New Hampshire's 42-mile Cheshire Trail
from Fitzwilliam to North Walpole, which is owned by the State of New
Hampshire.  In Malnati v. State of New Hampshire, the lower court had ruled
that the state held an easement rather than a fee simple interest because
the statute purporting to give the state a fee simple interest violated the
Plaintiffs due process and equal protection rights. The lower court also
held that the state's use of the railroad easement for recreational purposes
might be outside of the scope of the easement.  The Supreme Court today
reversed the lower court's decision, finding that the state's easement
interest in the corridor was neither abandoned nor extinguished, and that
the state statute automatically converting such easements into fee simple
interests, subject to a post-deprivation claim for compensation, did not
violate either the due process or equal protection clauses of the US
Constitution.
RTC filed an amicus brief in the case.  RTC was represented by General
Counsel Andrea Ferster and local counsel Jed Callen, and was provided with
invaluable assistance from Law Professor Danaya Wright.

You can read a copy of the decision at:
http://www.state.nh.us/courts/supreme/opinions/0207/malna077.htm





Happy Rail-Trails,

Craig P. Della Penna
New England Representative
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
2 Washington Square, Suite 200
Union Station
Worcester, MA  01604
Phone: 508-755-3300
Fax:  508-791-9999
Email: rtccraig_@_transact.org
http://www.railtrails.org/newengland/



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #444
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org