Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. CA2/8

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Appellants are Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines, Inc.; SFPP, L.P. Kinder Morgan Operating L.P. “D”; and Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc. (collectively the pipeline). Respondent is Union Pacific Railroad Company (the railroad). In Southern Pacific Transportation Co. v. Santa Fe Pacific Pipelines, Inc. (1999) 74 Cal.App.4th 1232, 1235- 1236, the First District Court of Appeal summarized the parties‟ and their predecessors‟ relationship as well as their agreements as follows: “The relevant history begins in the mid-1950‟s. At that time, the railroad and Southern Pacific Pipelines, Inc. – the predecessor of Santa Fe – were sister subsidiaries of Southern Pacific Corporation. The pipeline company had the right to install pipelines along the railroad‟s right-of-way pursuant to two master agreements. The agreements provided for the creation of pipeline easements on the right-of-way property. “In 1983 the two companies entered into a new master agreement whereby the railroad granted to the pipeline company perpetual nonexclusive easements and the right to construct and operate underground hydrocarbon pipelines on its rights-of-way. The 1983 agreement set forth the amounts to be…