Case Summary
Issue:
Whether environmental groups that claim no interest in property may intervene in Quiet Title Act litigation filed by San Juan County to determine whether it has an R.S. 2477 right to a road across federal land?
Plaintiff:
San Juan County, Utah
Defendant:
United States of America, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Intervenor:
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Grand Canyon Trust, The Wilderness Society
Amicus Curiae:
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF)
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Case History
On June 14, 2004, San Juan County, Utah, filed a Quiet Title Action lawsuit against the United States asserting that it owns an R.S. 2477 right in Salt Creek Road in the Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. On October 29, 2004, a Utah federal district court ruled that several environmental groups had no legal right to intervene in the litigation because they claimed no proprietary interest in the road.
On August 31, 2005, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled, by 2-1, that the groups could intervene because they were interested in how the road would be managed. On October 14, 2005, San Juan County filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc, which the United States joined with its own petition on November 4, 2005. On November 30, 2005, MSLF filed its brief in support of San Juan County’s petition for rehearing en banc. The environmental groups filed their response to the petitions on December 16, 2005. On February 24, 2006, the Tenth Circuit agreed to hear the case en banc. On May 1, 2006, MSLF filed its friend of the court brief. Oral argument took place on September 26, 2006.
