JACKSON, Tenn. (LN) — A federal judge in Tennessee has dismissed prescriptive easement and Fifth Amendment takings claims brought against the United States and the Natural Resources Conservation Service by five plaintiffs who lost land access when a levee was torn down.
The plaintiffs alleged they used a levee path crossing the Adams Property for 28 years to reach their Hunting Property in Dyer County, Tennessee. The court found the complaint failed to plausibly allege the use was adverse or under a claim of right, as required under Tennessee law.
The court also rejected the prescriptive easement claim under the Quiet Title Act’s subsection (n), which bars adverse possession claims against the United States, finding the plaintiffs’ complaint did not sufficiently plead adversity.
The takings claim failed because the plaintiffs could not establish a valid property interest absent a viable prescriptive easement claim.
The case will proceed against the private Adams defendants only.