Fifth Circuit Affirms Ruling In Fly Case

By David Howell
Editor

NEW ORLEANS – A federal lawsuit seeking to resolve ownership of a county road may have hit a final roadblock after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed an earlier ruling in U.S. District Court favoring Yalobusha County.

    The lawsuit, filed by Fletcher Fly in January, 2008,  alleged that the county had not maintained County Road 161 for almost two decades and did not compensate Fly for the acreage taken when the property was placed on the 2000 Road Registry.

    The 2000 Road Registry was part of a statewide process, conducted in each county, to identify county-maintained roads.

    Fly, who was represented by Stewart Guernsey, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Oxford. The case was resolved last February, two months before it was set to go to trial, after the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the county. The ruling came after Board Attorney John Crow asked for summary judgment, citing there was no genuine issue as to any material fact that the county had improperly taken Fly’s property.

    The U.S. District Court held that Fly had not sought or been denied just compensation under state procedure for the alleged taking.

    Guernsey appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, combining the Yalobusha case with a similar case he had filed in Grenada County.

    The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the ruling Tuesday, affirming the decision in U.S. District Court in both the Yalobusha and Grenada county cases.

    “The county had treated him (Fletcher Fly) fairly and tried to resolve the matter but he would not listen,” Crow told the Herald after the ruling was handed down Tuesday. Crow represented the county in the case after the county’s liability insurance company did not provide coverage for the lawsuit.

    Chancery Clerk Amy McMinn reported the lawsuit cost the county almost $40,000 in legal fees.