1952 Pipeline Easement Not Invalid Because Operator Did Not Seek to Build Pipeline Until 2012.

In 1952, the owner of Illinois farmland granted a pipeline operator an easement for two pipelines across the parcel. The first pipeline was built immediately.  The second pipeline, if built at all, had to be within 10 feet of the first pipeline. The operator promised that the land would remain farmable. In 2012, the operator notified the owner (now successor in interest) that it planned to build a second pipeline. The owner responded with a federal diversity quiet-title suit under Illinois law, asking the court to declare that the operator had no right to build a second pipeline—either because the right to do so has expired or because another pipeline would violate the farmability condition of the 1952 contract. The operator replied that the right to build a pipeline has no time limit and that federal law, in particular 49 U.S.C. §60104(c) (safety provision), preempted enforcement of the farmability condition. The district court agreed with the operator and dismissed the suit. On appeal, the court found no reason to think that Illinois courts would call the 1952 contract an option or apply the Rule Against Perpetuities. The district court therefore properly denied the owner's request to quiet title in its favor. That portion of the judgment was affirmed. The remainder of the judgment, however, was vacated because the farmability question was not ripe for decision until the pipeline was built.  Knight v. Enbridge Pipelines Fsp L.L.C. & Ccps Transp., No. 13-3481, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13708 (7th Cir. Jul. 16, 2014).