OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska landowners whose property was used for railroad lines and later converted to rail trails could get a check from the government.

U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom ruled Monday that under the terms of some easements granted to the railroads for construction and use of rail lines, the now-abandoned land should have been returned to owners, not handed over for rail trails.

"It's not about preventing the trails from coming in," said attorney Cecilia Fex, who represented the landowners in the class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government. "It's simply giving homeowners and private residents the ability to be compensated when their land is used."

The summary judgment applies to private land that was used by railroads and later converted into rail trails, violating federal law. In 2003, the judge ruled in the same case that converting the easements to trails violated state law.

The lawsuit, first filed in 1998 in Kansas and transferred to Nebraska in 1999, covers 15 rail trails in 22 Nebraska counties — roughly 500 miles of abandoned rail lines.

Fex said notices were sent to almost 3,000 landowners who were thought to be affected, but she wasn't sure how many would actually receive money from the government.

The amount of compensation has not been determined yet.

A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment on the ruling because the case is still active. The court system still needs to determine compensation.

The Rails-To-Trails Conservancy was not named in the lawsuit, but joined the case to argue on behalf of the government. Its attorney, Richard Allen, said the ruling disappointed him.

He said the easements that were granted to railroads under an 1875 federal act did not put restrictions on how the land could be used.

"It should encompass recreational trail use," Allen said.

In the lawsuit, the Nebraska landowners argued that a federal law converting the abandoned easements into recreational trails was a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights, which prevents the taking of private property for public use with due process or just compensation.

Fex said a few similar cases have been filed in other states, including one in Idaho that covered an estimated 200 landowners and went on to the U.S. Court of Appeals. In that case, the appeals court ruled that government was liable.