Opening arguments have been set for Aug. 9 before the state Supreme Court in a case involving Warren County and two groups of landowners.

A ruling from the state’s high court is expected to decide whether three-fourths of Paw Paw Road, a gravel path off Mississippi 465, is public or private. Vicksburg-based Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes ruled in 2008 the road is private, including a part beyond a locked gate.

Issaquena and Warren Counties Land Company LLC and Paw Paw Island Land Company own land in the area, used mainly for hunting. A weave of lawsuits between the two groups began in 2003 over access to the property. Subsequent suits had the county pursuing ways to enforce subdivision and flood plain management ordinances on the land, obscured by trees beyond the Mississippi River levee system. The county joined PPILC as plaintiffs in the chancery case, in which each side offered conflicting accounts of how much of the road is under county maintenance.

A federal case filed in 2007 by IWCLC in U.S. District Court in Jackson says county officials intervened in a private land dispute with PPILC to a degree that violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Each of six counts in the civil case seeks $1 million in damages. Proceedings in the case were suspended in September pending the outcome of the chancery appeal.

A decision that reverses the chancery ruling would be seen as a victory for the county, which said it was trying to enforce ordinances as it would on any other tract of land.

Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield was board attorney for county supervisors when the federal case was filed. He, along with all five supervisors from the 2004-2008 term, remains a defendant in the case.