134 S. Ct. 1257 (2014)
In 1908 the Laramie, Hahn's Peak and Pacific Railroad obtained a 200-foot-wide right of way across public lands in Wyoming under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875.1 The railroad completed construction of its line in 1911.2 The line later passed through several owners and was used primarily to transport timber and cattle.3
In 1976 the United States issued a land patent conveying an 83-acre parcel in Fox Park, Wyoming, to Melvin and Lulu Brandt.4 The patent conveyed to the Brandts fee simple title to the land "with all the rights, privileges, immunities, and appurtenances, of whatsoever nature, thereunto belonging, unto said claimants, their successors and assigns, forever."5 The patent stated that the land was granted "subject to those rights for railroad purposes as have been granted to the Laramie[,] Hahn's Peak & Pacific Railway Company, its successors or assigns."6 The right of way crossed approximately ten acres of the patented parcel.7
In 1996 the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad notified the Surface Transportation Board of its intent to abandon the right of way.8 After removing the tracks and ties and obtaining Board approval, the railroad completed abandonment in 2004.9
In 2006 the United States filed suit seeking a judicial declaration of abandonment and an order quieting title to the right of way in the Government.10 The complaint named the owners of 31 parcels crossed by the abandoned right of way, including Marvin Brandt who held the Fox Park parcel through a family trust.11 Brandt contested the claim and filed a counterclaim asserting that the right of way was a mere easement extinguished by abandonment.12 The district court granted summary judgment to the United States.13 The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed.14 The Supreme Court granted certiorari.15
Whether a railroad right of way granted under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 terminates upon abandonment by the railroad, leaving the owner of the underlying land with unencumbered title?16
The General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 grants to railroads only an easement in their rights of way, which under settled common law principles terminates upon abandonment, restoring the servient estate to the landowner unencumbered.17
Yes. The 1875 Act conveyed only an easement to the railroad, as established in Great Northern.18 The 1976 patent to the Brandts conveyed fee simple title subject only to that easement without any reservation of a reversionary interest by the United States.19 Upon the railroad's abandonment of the right of way in 2004, the easement terminated under common law, leaving the Brandt Revocable Trust with unencumbered title to the ten acres.20
The railroad right of way terminated upon abandonment, conferring unencumbered title on the owner of the underlying land.21
Related opinions on this issue
Justice Sotomayor dissented.22 She argued that prior cases like Townsend and Stringham established that the United States retained a reversionary interest in 1875 Act rights of way.23 Great Northern did not overrule those holdings on the question of reversion.24
Railroad rights of way are sui generis and not governed by ordinary common law easement rules.25 The presumption favoring the sovereign grantor supports retention of a reversionary interest by the United States.26 The majority's decision undermines the legality of thousands of miles of former rights of way now used for public trails and could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits.27