Grain & Feed Manager - Managers Forum

[Chris Clukey]

Walsh County jurors have awarded $455,000 to a grain elevator whose owners alleged neighbors improperly reached across property lines to block its expansion. The elevator`s attorney, Zenas Baer, says the case has a wide-reaching message. He says it illustrates the potential cost of protesting elevator expansions in ways that are unfair. But the attorney for the neighbors notes that Minto Grain and its owners got only a small fraction of the $6.8 million they were seeking. And attorney David Thompson says they`ll appeal. The case revolved around ownership of some of the railroad land in question. Neighbors filed numerous unsuccessful lawsuits against Minto Grain or BNSF Railway, some of which ended up in the North Dakota Supreme Court. Minto Grain eventually sued members of a neighboring family for damages for delaying the project.