Close Armstrong, LLC v. Trunkline Gas Co., LLC

A group of landowners filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to define the scope of an easement related to an existing natural gas pipeline. The landowners sought to remove a burden on the properties to allow its use for conservation purposes. The defendant gas company counterclaimed and asserted that it continued to hold an easement to lay additional pipelines anywhere on the properties. The district court granted partial summary judgment to the defendant and plaintiffs appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, agreeing with the district court that the defendant’s un-exercised floating easement rights were not fixed under state law. (EASTERBROOK and MALDONADO, concurring)