$6.5 million class settlement approved

A Missouri state court has approved a $6.5 million class action settlement that compensates over 1,100 Missouri landowners for the unauthorized use of their property for commercial telecommunications. Landowners who will benefit from this settlement include farmers, ranchers, homeowners, and small businesses located in a 14-county area in central Missouri. CVDL’s Heidi Doerhoff Vollet and Dale Doerhoff served as counsel for the class of Missouri property owners who had asserted trespass and inverse condemnation claims against Central Electric Power Cooperative and its wholly owned subsidiary, FiberPath Technologies, LLC for commercial use of fiber optic cable along approximately 240 miles of electric-transmission lines. The settlement provides significant monetary benefits to class members where the easement held by Central did not permit commercial telecommunications use.