The U.S. Supreme Court hears on 9 November 2026 who pays the lawyers after a pipeline easement in North Dakota. Leonard Hoffmann’s family and neighbours in McKenzie County settled with WBI Energy Transmission on the land price. They were left with a legal bill in the hundreds of thousands. The trial court put that on the company; the Eighth Circuit wiped it on 24 March 2025. The case is Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission, No. 25-159.

WBI, part of MDU Resources, used the Natural Gas Act and a FERC certificate to take easements on Line Section 27 Cherry Creek–Spring Creek. The owners did not fight the pipe. They said the offer was below what oil companies had paid without federal eminent domain. WBI wanted the before-and-after land-value gap, which could be near zero. After a judge let in market-price evidence, the parties settled the land award.

The ranchers still wanted costs. North Dakota law lets a condemnee recover attorney fees. The district court applied that law and ordered WBI to pay $383,375.76, Oyez records. The Times of India speaks of about $300,000 spent. The Eighth Circuit said a private firm taking land under the Natural Gas Act stands in the federal government’s shoes and owes only Fifth Amendment “just compensation,” which does not include lawyers. It split with the Third, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits.

Certiorari was granted on 29 June 2026. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Court to take the case and sided with the company: unlike some other federal taking statutes, the Natural Gas Act does not provide for fees. On 13 October the Court let him argue as amicus. The Institute for Justice represents the ranchers and says federal law does not automatically excuse the company from state compensation rules.

This is not a final judgment. It is a clash of principles: property rights versus the cost of pipes. If the ranchers lose, the bill stays theirs even after they “won” on the land. If they win, other private takings under the Natural Gas Act may follow North Dakota, not the constitutional floor.

The Times of India summarised the docket. The official calendar is on the Supreme Court’s site. 9 November is argument, not a ruling.

Image: Yiyuanju, U.S. Supreme Court, 1 June 2024, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The courthouse, not the November argument.

Sources consulted: North Dakota ranchers fought a pipeline company over compensation for easements — The Times of India; Docket 25-159, Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission, Inc. — Supreme Court of the United States.