Chain of Title
for
6+ miles of abandoned rail corridor, 150’ wide

The following information comes from professional title reports submitted by different agencies, all of which were in agreement.

Background

• Owned by Milan Canal Company (1820’s to 1904)
• Six mile corridor, 3 miles of which was once a dug canal and towpath
• Canal property continued northerly along 3 more miles of towpath that ran alongside the Huron River and flowed into Lake Erie
• Canal operated until 1869

In 1877 the Canal Co. leased this 6 mile, 150’ wide strip to the Railroad on a 99 year term, renewable forever. The lease had two conditions:

• $50 annual rent
• land was only for RR purposes

If either condition not kept, lease became void. This lease and legal description is avilable on this website.

In 1904 Canal Co. went into receivership and the land was sold at sheriff’s sale (the legal description the of Canal property is the same as the legal description contained in the 1877 Railroad lease). The property was subsequently purchased by Steven Lockwood and stayed in Lockwood family to eventually be put into a family trust in the 1950's (Trustee:Key Bank of Ohio, NA).

In April 2000, 30+ families purchased the land from Lockwood’s Trustee, Key Bank, for $186,000. The corridor bisected all the landowners properties; this purchase enabled us to individually incorporate the abandoned corridor into our yards and farm fields. We all have recorded deeds to our parcels.

Erie Metroparks' title work, as well as our own, clearly stated the Railroad merely held leasehold interest; ownership was held by Lockwood Trust
 
ErieMetroparks' dubious purchase of corridor

In 1994, ErieMetroparks (EMP) gave Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad $214,600 tax dollars for a "Right of Usage" agreement covering the 6 miles of corridor (this agreement also gave EMP future fiber optic rights to corridor). EMP then announced its bike trail plans.

In 1998, EMP recorded a quitclaim deed from the Railroad which was signed in 1994, the same day as "Right of Usage" agreement. They had the county auditor transfer all 6+ miles of corridor to EMP, and show it as such on our county tax maps. EMP claimed ownership of the entire corridor by way of quitclaim deed and/or Lockwood Trust lease. They began constructing bike trail on Lockwood Trust land.
 
Legal Timeline - Landowners vs. ErieMetroparks

1998 - EMP attorney sent letter to Erie County Common Pleas Judge requesting a specific visiting judge as their choice for ALL litigation that may come up between EMP and landowners. Our judge complied. This visiting judge is Judge Joseph Cirigliano.

1998 - EMP began constructing bike trail on Lockwood Trust land. Key Bank, on behalf of the Lockwood Trust, filed a temporary restraining order to halt construction. Motion denied by Judge Cirigliano.

1999 - EMP filed "quick take" eminent domain action against one landowner and immediately seized the property and began construction (four separate neighbors had purchased their respective parcels from Key Bank years prior to the 2000 purchase of the 30 families who purchased the balance of the corridor). Landowner filed temporary restraining order ; argued that "quick take" was improper due to no necessity shown. Motion denied by Judge Cirigliano. NOTE: A "quick take" action is an aggressive form of eminent domain action which is rarely used. It is intended for dire emergencies, such as a time of war.

1999 - EMP filed Declaratory Relief suit against Key Bank, requesting a ruling on the validity of the lease.

April 2000 - 35+ landowners inherited the Declaratory Relief suit, after purchasing the Lockwood Trust land from Key Bank.

April 2000 - landowners filed Forcible Entry and Detainer against EMP in Erie County Municipal court, getting it away from "EMP’s Judge" in Common Pleas Court.

July 2000 - Judge Todia ruled EMP had no rights to occupy corridor. We then posted "No Trespass" signs on our land; the next day, EMP was granted a temporary restraining order against us by Judge Cirigliano. We opposed the action, and argued the recent Forcible Entry and Detainer ruling proved we have control of the land. Judge Cirigliano would not acknowledge the prior ruling as relevant and let the temporary restraining order stand.

August 2000, 2 days of testimony – Declaratory Relief hearing on the validity of lease.

November 3, 2000 - our attorney received a judgment entry from the judge with a handwritten note stating it would be filed on Tuesday, November 7 (Election Day). NOTE: EMP had a park levy on the ballot. Obviously the judge didn’t want to hurt EMP’s chances with the voters and stalled filing our ruling until after the voting was in. The EMP levy was defeated, and he judgment entry ruled in our favor. It was very clear: no valid lease – period.

November 7, 2000 - 3:55 pm Judge Cirigliano filed his ruling. But it was not the same entry he had sent on November 3. He still ruled that the lease was not valid, but changed/shortened the lease’s original court-recorded legal description, omitting over 3 miles of the property, which affected 30 landowners’ parcels (see judgment entry).

November 8, 2000 - Our attorneys asked for reconsideration; no answer given within a 30 day-period. We had to appeal. EMP counter-appealed, arguing lease still valid.

September 17, 2001 - 6th District Court of Appeals overturned the trial judge's ruling on the validity of the lease but emphasized the decision only affected two small parcels in the corridor. The court said property was transferred from the Railroad to EMP with no time lapse in occupation, thus no abandonment. The problem with that is, it was clear in our trial court transcript that there was a significant lapse in occupation from 1989 thru 1994. The appellate court ignored that, plus several other key facts that proved the lease was indeed breeched. Ohio case law on railroad abandonment was also not considered by this court. As far as the other lease condition that was not met - the annual payment of rent - Appellate court said lessor did not give the Railroad notice to pay. (For over 100 years - since 1881 - no one had given the Railroad notice to pay; the lease did not call for notice to be given.)

February 2002 - Appellate court remanded judgment entry back to Erie County Common Pleas Court and Judge Cirigliano. He requested a brief and judgment entry from both sides. We submitted ours in a timely fashion. EMP’s brief included much more land - 2 miles more - in the "leased" area than was stated the appeal ruling. They also included as part pf the appellate ruling the acreage that EMP is currently in eminent domain litigation on (including it in this ruling would eliminate EMP from paying for it - they could just take it under the "lease") This acreage is clearly beyond the scope of the appellate ruling. But Judge Cirigliano ruled in favor of EMP and signed their judgment entry. We were shocked.

Days later, Judge Cirigliano confirmed to our attorney that he only received one brief and judgment entry: EMP’s. He figured we were unopposed to EMP’s argument since we didn’t submit a brief, so he signed theirs. Our attorney showed him our date-stamped copy. It was clear that the courthouse never gave him our report, and that we never received our day in court. (In fact, to this day, he has yet to receive the paperwork from the courthouse clerks.) Because of this "unfair" situation, Judge Cirigliano said he’d meet with both sides. He did, but when EMP wouldn’t agree to a compromise, he said we should let the appeals court decide.

July 2002 - Attorneys for CPPR and EMP met with Judge Ann Maschari. Our attorneys argued that Judge Cirigliano had showed political bias towards the Metroparks in all of his rulings. She decided "in the best interest of both parties" to remove Judge Cirigliano from any further authority in the ongoing legal matters.

September 2002 - Appeals ruling came back in our favor; the ruling specifically stated the "lease" only covered land in Merry and Townsend deeds. This covers a very small portion of the 6-mile strip (approximately 1800 feet of corridor). But our County Prosecutor, Kevin Baxter, must enforce the ruling at the local level, and he ignored the appellate ruling and conveniently interpeted the ruling to be totally in favor of the park board. He said the lease covers over three miles of land. He gave ErieMetroparks the green light to take over two miles of land from us; he chose to ignore his colleagues’ advice; he chose to ignore the letter of the law. Even when we citizens win in court, the outcome is controlled so as to benefit the government.

January 2005 - An appeals court panel determined that an Erie County Court erred in granting a summary judgment to Erie Metroparks. In its ruling, the judges concurred that Erie Metroparks had not proved its ownership of the contested property, and that contrary evidence had been presented but not considered. (If you prefer to download and print the ruling, click here to access a 956 kb pdf file. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required.)
 

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