Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc. Promoting justice. Providing solutions

 

box top

Membership Criteria

Membership is open to practicing attorneys who devote the majority of their litigation-related time to the defense of civil litigation.

Join MDC

(Volume discounts for law firms and reduced rates for government attorneys. Click here for information.)

box bottom

Get Adobe Reader

E-Alert Case Updates

Virginia Property Dispute is Matter of State Law Despite Easement Holder Possessing a Federal License

Richard A. Pressl, et al. v. Appalachian Power Company
No. 15-2348, (United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, November 21, 2016)

by Caroline E. Willsey, Law Clerk
Semmes, Bowen & Semmes (www.semmes.com)

Available at: http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/152348.P.pdf

In Pressl v. Appalachian Power Company, Virginia landowners brought an action in state court against an easement holder seeking a declaration of their rights to build a dock on property subject to the flowage easement. Appalachian Power Company (“APCO”), the owner of the easement, removed the case to federal court and the landowners sought to remand the case. The district court denied the motion to remand and dismissed the landowners’ complaint. On appeal, the landowners argued that the federal court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction.

Richard and Theresa Pressl (“the Pressls”) own property on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. They acquired the property subject to a flowage easement that the Pressls’ predecessor in interest granted to APCO in 1960. The easement recites APCO’s intention to construct a dam and operate a hydroelectric power station at Smith Mountain Lake. The easement provided the landowners with the right to “possess and use said premises in any manner not inconsistent with” APCO’s flowage easement, including crossing the land for recreational purposes. After acquiring the property, the Pressls sought to construct a dock on their property that would extend into Smith Mountain Lake. As a condition for building the dock, APCO told the Pressls that they would be required to execute an Occupancy and Use Permit and abide by its restrictions.

The Pressls filed suit in Virginia state court, seeking a declaratory judgment that APCO’s demands violated the flowage easement, which vested rights in the landowners to build and own structures to access Smith Mountain Lake for recreational purposes. APCO removed the case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. APCO asserted federal question jurisdiction because the Pressls’ property lies within the project boundary for APCO’s Smith Mountain hydroelectric project, which APCO operated under a license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). The district court agreed and concluded that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute. The court then granted APCO’s motion to dismiss the Pressls’ complaint.

On appeal, the Pressls argued that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The Fourth Circuit began by noting that in an action for declaratory judgment, the federal right litigated may belong to the declaratory judgment defendant rather than the declaratory judgment plaintiff. In this case, APCO argues that federal question jurisdiction existed because a defense of its rights under the easement would necessarily involve a question of federal law. Specifically, APCO contended that its rights under state law turned on the construction of the federal license granted to APCO by FERC.

For a federal court to have subject-matter jurisdiction, the federal issue must be: (1) necessarily raised, (2) actually disputed, (3) substantial, and (4) capable of resolution in federal court without disrupting the federal-state balance approved by Congress.

As for the first element, the Fourth Circuit held that no federal issue was necessarily raised. In their complaint, the Pressls did not challenge APCO’s duties under its federal license; rather, they merely argued that APCO had not obtained a property right to constrain the Pressls’ construction of a dock. Because neither the Federal Power Act nor APCO’s FERC license provided APCO with property rights, APCO’s only property rights in this case came from the flowage easement. Because the controversy only required adjudication of the rights granted under the flowage easement, no federal question was necessarily raised. Under Virginia law, the most important factor in interpreting an easement is the text of the easement itself. The Fourth Circuit therefore rejected APCO’s alternative argument that a federal question was necessarily raised in determining the scope of APCO’s rights under the easement.

Moreover, no federal question was actually disputed. There was no dispute over the validity of APCO’s federal license or of APCO’s obligations to FERC. The case presented solely a dispute under state property law. The Fourth Circuit accordingly found that the second element for federal subject-matter jurisdiction was not met.

The Fourth Circuit quickly disposed of the third and fourth elements by concluding that the federal interest in interpreting the flowage easement was not substantial and that asserting federal jurisdiction over this case would disrupt the congressionally approved federal-state balance. In support of this conclusion the court noted that state courts are equally – if not more – able to interpret and enforce property rights conveyed through instruments governed by state law.

Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit held that the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the case between the Pressls and APCO. The Fourth Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded the case to state court.