Date Filed: November 16, 2015
Original Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Case Status: Victory
The federal government tried to take 90,000 acres of Texas land from homeowners and ranchers along the Red River. The Bureau of Land Management alleged the land was inside the river and is therefore public land. But the south bank of the Red River is about a mile north of where the government says it is. Furthermore, many Texans live on that land, and many others make their livelihoods from farming and ranching (not fishing) on it. These Texans have lived and paid taxes on the land for generations, and they have titles and deeds going back to the 1800s. Following two years of litigation, CAF attorneys secured victory for their clients against the federal government. BLM agreed to reverse its prior survey and use well-established legal principles in any future surveys of the Red River’s boundaries. This victory saved Texas landowners from having their property declared public lands and allows them to use their property as they have for generations.
Case Documents:
Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
Defendants’ Response to Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
Joint Motion to Approve Private Plaintiffs’ Settlement Agreement
State of Texas’s Settlement Agreement
Commentary:
- TPPF files amended lawsuit against Bureau of Land Management
- Bureau of Land Management shows contempt for property rights
- TPPF statement on Texas General Land Office intervening in Aderholt, et al. v. Bureau of Land Management
- TPPF statement on Texas attorney general intervening in Aderholt, et al. v. Bureau of Land Management et al.
- TPPF files lawsuit against Bureau of Land Management challenging seizure of private land along Red River