Court Tosses Claims Against Va. in Utility Broadband Case
A federal court dismissed landowners’ constitutional claims against Virginia on a state law that makes it easier for electric cooperatives to install broadband facilities on easements where they have power lines. In Grano v. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) at U.S.…
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District Court in Charlottesville, Virginia (case 3:20-cv-00065), landowners claimed the state violated the 5th and 14th amendments as they sued a co-op trying to use the 2020 state law to expand broadband. The court Friday granted Virginia’s motion to dismiss constitutional claims against the state because it said it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. “It is black letter law that a private citizen may not sue his own State in federal court,” with only two exceptions that don’t apply here, wrote Judge Norman Moon. A Virginia state court could decide, he said: “The Granos have not shown that the Virginia courts are closed to their takings claim.” The court must still decide the landowners’ claim that REC violated the contracts clause. REC declined to comment Monday. The Virginia attorney general’s office and plaintiffs’ attorney didn’t comment.