Court hears property dispute over historic railroad deed, abandonment and prescriptive easement claims

The Utah Court of Appeals heard argument in an ownership dispute over a narrow rail‑corridor parcel and adjoining commercial property, focusing on whether historical federal railroad grants and an 1874 deed to Union Pacific conveyed a full fee simple or a limited fee/easement with a reverter and whether subsequent acts or documents abandoned the right of way.

Ken Brown, representing the appellants, argued the 1874 transaction and later quitclaim conveyances demonstrate that Union Pacific (and its successors) held fee simple and that a later 2007 quitclaim to the appellees’ predecessor transferred the remaining interest. Brown pointed to chain‑of‑title issues across multiple parcels and disputed the trial court’s legal conclusion that railroads could not hold fee simple in the corridor at the time of the 1874 grant.

John Keider and appellees’ counsel urged affirmance of…