TLDR;Cliff notes?
TLDW.
OK, I have questions.TLDR;
"Corner crossing involves stepping from one piece of public land to another at the common corner with two pieces of private property, all arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Corner crossing avoids setting foot on private land."
"The judge summarized and analyzed relevant court precedent to conclude that “corner crossing on foot in the checkerboard pattern of land ownership, without physically, contacting private land and, without causing damage to private property does not constitute an unlawful trespass.”
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The land owners argue that "Crossing the airspace" of their property at the corners to go from public land to public land is trespassing and somehow damaging.
The judge says otherwise.
"Skavdahl observed that with respect to the corner crossing issue “[t]here is no evidence the hunters made physical contact with [Eshelman’s] private land or caused any damage to plaintiff’s private property,” either in 2020 or 2021. The judge also agreed with Eshelman that he generally owns the airspace above his property and is entitled to use it."
"But even property rights come with limitations and restrictions, Skavdahl wrote."
“History, federal case law, federal statutory law, and recent Wyoming legislation demonstrate corner crossing in the manner done by Defendants in this case is just such a restriction on Plaintiff’s property rights,” he wrote. “[D]efendants, ‘in common with other persons [have] the right to the benefit of the public domain,’ which necessarily requires some limitation on the adjoining private landowner’s right of exclusion within the checkerboard pattern of land ownership.”
The private lands were fenced. The hunters used a ladder to cross the corner from one piece of public land to the other. I’ve not heard an explanation of how the landowner came to know that they crossed, but the fact that they crossed and how they did it is not in question.OK, I have questions.
Was this "checkerboard" private property posted and fenced?
Was there a camera at this crossing at the time or is the trespassing assumed because of the physical nature of having to cross a fence?
They claim the airspace above the property was violated by someone walking over the property.
This tells me there was a fence and they used it to circumvent stepping foot on the ground.
Is this correct?
There was also a Wyoming game warden they consulted before putting a ladder across that corner that said crossing that corner was legal as public access to public land could not be blocked and they were legal in doing so.The private lands were fenced. The hunters used a ladder to cross the corner from one piece of public land to the other. I’ve not heard an explanation of how the landowner came to know that they crossed, but the fact that they crossed and how they did it is not in question.
There is also an old (like from the 1880s old) Federal law that prohibits anyone from blocking access to public lands. Apparently the landowner chained his corner posts together, which may actually run afoul of that law.
At any rate, most of this absurd $7M lawsuit against the hunters has been dismissed. There’s still a question of a GPS waypoint that could indicate that the hunters were farther into the property than they claimed, but that’ll have to be resolved by what remains of the lawsuit.
OK, I have questions.
Was this "checkerboard" private property posted and fenced?
Was there a camera at this crossing at the time or is the trespassing assumed because of the physical nature of having to cross a fence?
They claim the airspace above the property was violated by someone walking over the property.
This tells me there was a fence and they used it to circumvent stepping foot on the ground.
Is this correct?
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