Farm owner within corner-crossing situation drops Waypoint 6 trespass claim

The owner of Elk Hill Ranch has dropped the final remaining claim in a civil corner-crossing trespass lawsuit – an affidavit stating that a Missouri hunter walked on his property far from contested boundaries.

In documents filed in U.S. District Court on June 1, an attorney for Metal Bar Association and Wendy Eshelman informed U.S. Chief District Judge Scott Skavdahl that the ranch owner is withdrawing the trespass claim of a digital waypoint called Waypoint 6. This eliminates the need for a trial later this month.

Eshelman had sued four hunters claiming they trespassed while passing through the airspace over a corner of his property. Skavdahl ruled last week that the men did not trespass during the corner crossing – moving from one part of public land to another without touching adjacent private property, all within a checkerboard pattern of land ownership.

Skavdahl’s summary-judgment ruling does not prevent Eshelman from appealing the corner-crossing decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a process that the hunters’ attorney expects.

During the civil suit, which at one point sought $7.75 million in damages, Metal Bar and Eshelman alleged that, in addition to violating ranch airspace at several prominent corners with public land, one hunter also set foot elsewhere on the Carbon County Ranch.

The affidavit arose following the discovery of “Waypoint 6” – a location on Elk Hill marked by hunter Zach Smith using the digital onX Hunt app. The waypoint indicates that Smith was on the ranch, according to Eshelman’s lawyers.

The hunters argued that the waypoint could have been created from anywhere. As Waypoint 6 was far from any of the four corners the hunters crossed in 2020 and 2021, Skavdahl separated it from the larger corner-crossing issue.

With the ruling in favor of the hunters regarding the corner crossing, Skavdahl left the Waypoint 6 dispute to be decided at a later trial. However, he also ruled that if Eshelman were to win the Waypoint 6 argument before a jury, he would be entitled to nominal damages only, amounting to just $100.

“After considering the matter, Individual Iron Bar Holdings, LLC has determined that the interests of judicial economy and justice warrant Individual withdrawing the claims related to the Waypoint 6 issue and potential physical surface trespass by any of the Defendants on the Plaintiffs’ real property,” wrote Eshelman’s attorney Greg Weisz.

The withdrawal eliminates the need for a trial, Weisz stated.

The two parties have also agreed to pay their own attorneys’ fees, according to the filing. However, other costs will be subject to Skavdahl’s final ruling on the civil lawsuit and limited to what is allowed under court rules.