Hearing Set In Racketeering
Case Against BLM Officials

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A hearing is set for mid-October in U.S. District Court here on a motion to dismiss a suit brought by a central Wyoming rancher against seven employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, accusing them of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Federal Judge Clarence A. Brimmer will hear arguments Oct. 18 on the government's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, says L. Eric Lundgren of the Budd-Falen law office in Cheyenne.

Lundgren says that if the judge rules in favor of Wyoming rancher Frank Robbins, the RICO statute can be applied to government employees who engage in extortion under color of their positions.

That's really the legal issue in the case, he contends.

"If we win that, then all that's left will be factual issues," Lundgren explains.

Lundgren adds that lead attorney Karen Budd-Falen and her team should easily bear their burden of proving the facts of the case.

"We're in a really strong position," Lundgren says.

On August 28, 1998, Budd-Falen and her client filed a claim against seven individuals in the Bureau of Land Management, both in their individual capacities as well as in their capacity as employees of BLM, for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

"We charged them with trespass, abuse of process and malicious prosecution," Lundgren says.

The previous owner of the ranch that Robbins bought about six years ago had given BLM an easement across some of the private property; however, the BLM had failed to record the easement. When Robbins bought the ranch, he knew nothing about it.

"A purchaser without notice resulted in no easement," Budd-Falen points out.

Robbins denied the BLM an easement when they approached him.

Budd-Falen says BLM employees began trespassing, threatened to take his recreational use permit and ultimately charged him with criminal interference with an officer of the BLM in pursuit of his authorized duty.

The BLM claims that because Robbins would not let BLM employees go across his property, he interfered with them and their official duties.

"There were criminal charges against him," Budd-Falen says.

The jury in the government's case against Robbins came back with a "not guilty" verdict in less than 20 minutes after a three-day trial. One of the jurors told Budd-Falen afterwards that Robbins "couldn't have been more railroaded if he had worked for the Union Pacific."

The BLM had told Robbins that if he gave them an easement, all those problems would go away, Budd-Falen says.

"So we filed the RICO case."

If Robbins wins, the RICO act may well become part of Western property law, Budd-Falen predicts, and it could be extended to environmental activist groups.

The RICO Act applies when two or more persons conspire to commit an illegal act.

"The RICO statute doesn't just apply to federal agencies," she explains. "If we can show an agency conspiring with an environmental group to do an illegal act, I think RICO would apply. This is the first test case. To our knowledge, RICO has never been applied in this manner."

Lundgren says only the briefs and oral arguments will be presented in October. It will be some time, he adds, before the judge is expected to rule on the motion.

"Our briefs in this case are very, very extensive," Lundgren says.