The Eighth Circuit has shut down Alliance Pipeline LP’s latest attempt to derail a years-long legal battle with farmland owners who allege pipeline construction wrecked their crop yields, ruling Thursday that arbitration agreements signed by many landowners don’t automatically entitle the company to an appeal.

In a brief but pointed three-page order, a three-judge panel said Alliance had failed to establish any legal basis for immediate appellate review, despite arguing that about three-quarters of affected landowners had signed arbitration deals before the massive gas pipeline project began in the 1990s.

"Alliance has not pointed to any authority indicating the mere existence of an arbitration agreement provides an automatic right of immediate appeal," the panel wrote.

A Case Rooted in the Fields

The litigation stretches across farmland in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota, where property owners claim construction of the Alliance gas line left long-lasting scars on soil productivity.

Back in 2023, a lower court dismissed claims from landowners bound by arbitration but allowed about 25% of plaintiffs—those without such agreements—to press forward in court.

Then came the Supreme Court’s 2024 Smith v. Spirrizzi decision, which clarified that courts can stay cases tied to arbitration rather than dismiss them outright. Riding that ruling, landowners persuaded the district court to reinstate and pause the arbitration-related claims. Alliance appealed, seeking to halt proceedings entirely while the Eighth Circuit reviewed the matter.

Court Rejects Procedural Gambit

The appeals panel wasn’t convinced. Labeling the move another procedural stall in a long-running saga, the judges said the case remains firmly in the lower court’s hands.

During oral arguments, judges even floated whether the collateral order doctrine might justify appellate jurisdiction. But Alliance’s lawyers rejected that lifeline, insisting arbitration agreements alone were sufficient—a stance the court swiftly dismissed.

"Because Alliance has not demonstrated a permissible basis for us to exercise jurisdiction … we lack the authority to decide the merits of this appeal," the decision concluded.

The Lawyers in the Fight

The plaintiffs are represented by Anne T. Regan and Brian W. Nelson of Hellmuth & Johnson PLLC and Steve McCann of Ball & McCann PC.

Alliance’s legal team includes Nicole M. Moen, Haley L. Waller Pitts, Patrick D.J. Mahlberg, Aron J. Frakes, and Samuel M. Andre of Fredrikson & Byron PA.

The Eighth Circuit panel was composed of Judges James B. Loken, Ralph R. Erickson, and Jonathan A. Kobes.