A state best known for Yellowstone and Bison may soon earn the reputation for sparking the legal fight that improves property rights for all Americans. While an out-of-control Wyoming government may seem like an oxymoron in a state renowned for its embrace of individual freedom, an ugly abuse of property rights has created an ongoing nightmare for one family.
Tom and Ayda Hamann of Cody have lived through a horror story that they hope will save other landowners throughout the United States from enduring the property destruction, physical injury and mental anguish wrought by government abuse.
It started in 2016, when Heart Mountain Irrigation District (HMID), the government entity that oversees 34,000 acres of land in their rural enclave in northwest Wyoming decided that it wanted to build a new road on their property based on an easement. The Hamanns told HMID that they were willing to work with it, but first wanted to see the easement. HMID did not produce it – could not, in fact, because the irrigation canals were built without government easements. HMID had for a long time used the road on the south side of their property to access for all of its operations without issue, so the Hamanns didn’t understand why a new one was needed that would require them to destroy fencing and other improvements on their 100-acre parcel.
In 2018, with the easement issue still unresolved, the Hamanns granted HMID limited access to their property to move a concrete bowl used to irrigate their neighbor’s property. Proclaiming he had, “More power than the sheriff,” HMID Manager Randy Watts and his crew tore down fences and an archway on the Hamann’s property, causing $10,000 worth of damage. He also hit Tom Hamann with an excavator bucket, which cracked a bone and herniated three discs in his neck and severely injured both shoulders. The strike also gave him a concussion, which he has never fully recovered from. Though no charges were filed, Watts was fired shortly after the incident according to the Hamanns.
Hamann, 65, said he gave up his physical therapist license because he was not able to pass continuing education classes following the attack. He also sold 40 head of cattle because he couldn’t physically take care of them anymore. He rarely drives and doesn’t like to go out anymore. He wears earplugs when out in public because noise bothers him and said he has no short-term memory.
The worst part has been the depression. “A head injury is awful. It’s like having cancer, but you never die,” he said. “I would ask God why he did this to me. What have I done?”
Hamann sued HMID in state court for “inverse condemnation,” a process that allows property owners to seek compensation from the government when it damages or takes their property. It’s the opposite of eminent domain, by which the government pays property owners ahead of time to take their property. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution requires government to fairly compensate property owners when it takes or damages property.
Despite the well-documented evidence against HMID, the court found that it wasn’t liable because the board hadn’t explicitly asked Randy Watts in a public meeting to injure Tom Hamann or his property.
Businesses are regularly held liable for the actions of their employees even when they can prove that they provided training or direction that contradicts the employee’s actions. Government, just because it’s government, should not get a free pass.
Hamann said many people have thanked him for suing HMID and told him they didn’t have the financial ability to do so. Without the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), the lower court ruling would have stood.
But PLF took the case and appealed the district court’s ruling to Wyoming’s Supreme Court last month. Austin Waisanen, the Hamann’s lawyer, said he expects the case to go to trial in May or June. Federal precedent shows that the government doesn’t need to give express permission to employees in order for the government to be held liable for damaging or taking property. In Darby Development Co. v. United States (2024), the Federal Circuit held that “even if an action by a government agent is unlawful, it will likely be deemed authorized for takings-claim purposes if it was done within the normal scope of the agent’s duties.”
The record establishes that Randy Watts regularly drove and used the excavator in the scope of his duties and was frequently allowed to work unsupervised and without specific instruction. As Waisanen argues in addition to the above issue, “The lower court’s application of the authorization rule—requiring Mr. Hamann to prove express authority—is incompatible with Wyoming’s heightened protection of property rights. Specifically, the Wyoming Constitution provides that property shall not be taken or damaged for public use.”
If they win, the Hamann’s hope to be compensated for their property losses. More importantly, Tom Hamann said he hopes to change state law to make it easier to sue the government. Waisanen said a successful outcome could impact eminent domain cases nationally to benefit property owners. But he said sovereign immunity laws that make it extremely difficult to sue government at all levels “have taken firm rooting in almost every state.”
Hopefully justice will prevail and Tom and Ayda’s long and trying ordeal will pave the way to make governments throughout the country abide by the rules they require of everyone else.