News in Brief: A Washington Roundup

The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to hear the appeal of a man who charged that an Oregon school district deprived him of more than $6 million in mineral rights on property it took over in a condemnation proceeding. Curtis M. Hunter argued in court papers that he bought mineral rights to an 18- acre parcel some two years before the West Linn-Wilsonville school district filed a 1995 condemnation lawsuit against the main property owner. The 7,700-student district wanted the property to build a school. State courts in Oregon denied Mr. Hunter’s request to intervene in the condemnation proceeding. The Oregon Court of Appeals said Mr. Hunter could seek part of the $1.2 million condemnation award to the real property owner as compensation for his mineral rights. The justices declined without comment on Feb. 19 to hear his appeal in Hunter v. West Linn-Wilsonville School...