Mauler appeal denied by U.S. Court of Appeals
By RICK OLIVO
The Daily Press
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 05th, 2002 10:48:23 AM
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has denied an appeal filed by Bayfield County residents Douglas and Judith Mauler seeking to overturn a federal court decision ruling the Maulers had no right to a former railroad right of way that crosses their property.
The original decision was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb in December of last year. Crabb ruled that part of a popular snowmobile trail in Bayfield County located near Benoit was owned by Bayfield County and not the Maulers
The lawsuit filed by the Maulers was part of an ongoing legal battle between the Maulers and Bayfield County going back to 1998, when the Maulers erected a wooden barrier to prevent snowmobiles from crossing what they alleged was their property using the trail. The Maulers agreed to remove the barrier after Bayfield County filed a suit against them. The county won a declaratory judgment in state court against the couple, the decision affirming that the county had a legally valid interest in the right of way and enjoining the Maulers from blocking the trail.
The Court of Appeals case was argued September 17 of this year and a copy of the decision was made available to Bayfield County on October 31.
The 11 page Court of Appeal decision reviewed the history of the case to date and discussed legal precedent before coming to the conclusion that Federal Law vested interest in the strip of land in the United States, and not the Maulers, that federal law also authorized the railroad's transfer of the land to Bayfield County and validated the county's use of the land as a public recreational trail and that claims by the Maulers that so using the land represented a taking without compensation was invalid because the couple held no legal interest in the strip of land in the first place.
"Because we agree with the district court that (applicable federal laws) apply to the strip and the railroad conveyed the land to Bayfield County in accordance with these statutes, we conclude the Maulers hold no present or reversionary legal interest in the land. And since the Maulers do not own the land, they cannot prevail on their takings claim," the decision said.
Efforts to contact the Maulers for comment were unsuccessful Monday.