United States Tenth Circuit
Elephant Butte Irrigation Dist. of New Mexico v. US Dep't of the Interior, 06-2282
In an action against the U.S. Department of the Interior and various federal officials challenging, inter alia, DOI's lease of project lands to New Mexico for recreational purposes and seeking an order reforming the lease to provide plaintiffs with profits, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed over claims that: 1) the district court erred in refusing to consider plaintiffs' contract theory of recovery for the count at issue and in holding that DOI has no duty to generate profits from the recreation lease; and 2) disputes of fact and the law of the case doctrine precluded the district court from deciding the merits of the count on summary judgment.
Appellate Information
- Decided 07/24/2008
- Published 08/13/2008
Judges
- SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge., Before KELLY, SEYMOUR, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
Court
- United States Tenth Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Steven Hernandez, Lee E. Peters, Beverly J. Singleman, Hubert & Hernandez, Las Cruces, NM, Timothy J. Deyoung, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, Albuquerque, NM, James M. Speer, Jr., United States Department of the Interior, El Paso, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
- For Appellees:
- John A. Bryson, Kathryn E. Kovacs, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, John W. Zavitz, Office of the United States Attorney, Christopher D. Coppin, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Albuquerque, NM, Edward J. Apodaca, NM Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Dept., Santa Fe, NM, for Defendants-Appellees.