Three Indianapolis residents have won a federal lawsuit after successfully arguing they were owed compensation following the construction of the Nickel Plate Trail on their land.
Their lawsuit dates back to the 2017 decision to convert the railroad into a recreational trail. Doing so created a new easement on the properties bordering the former railroad, requiring the federal government to pay affected landowners the value of any land taken for the trail.
The three landowners, located near the intersection of Allisonville Road and East 62nd Street, won a total of $415,326.
Lindsay Brinton, an attorney with law firm Lewis Rice’s Rails to Trails practice group, represented the landowners and said the law is clear when the government takes private property for a public purpose.
“In this case, Indiana property law would not have permitted the railroad corridor to be converted into a public trail,” Brinton said in a July news release. “However, federal law allowed that conversion to move forward, resulting in a taking of private property.”
Brinton and her legal team began sending out notices to property owners along the Nickel Plate Trail in 2017, alerting them that they might be entitled to compensation.
In 2019, Brinton filed complaints for 15 residents along the trail, according to court documents filed in 2023.
The landowners were the final group of plaintiffs along this particular right-of-way for the Nickel Plate rail-to-trail conversion to receive compensation for their land, Brinton told IndyStar. These three particular properties were originally created through a separate conveyance than the others along the trail, which held up the legal process.
Brinton and her team have worked with other Indy residents to file suit over other rail-to-trail conversions. The legal team most recently worked with westside residents and are waiting for the final approval of that suit.
Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on BlueSky or Twitter @karlstartswithk
IndyStar’s environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Landowners near Nickel Plate win lawsuit over trail construction
Reporting by Karl Schneider, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Karl Schneider, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
