High court considers FL property rights case
Florida Real Estate Journal
February 15, 2010
Bradley S. Gould- Miami
Eminent Domain and Condemnation Partner Bradley Gould authored the article "High court considers FL property rights case" published in the February 15 issue of the Florida Real Estate Journal.
In the article, Mr. Gould focuses on the case Stop the Beach Renourishment vs. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which is the first significant property rights matter to reach the U.S. Supreme Court since 2005. The case involves a group of beach property owners who objected to a state-funded beach restoration project after the State of Florida entered their private property and added 75 feet of new sand to its shoreline without their consent.
The owners filed suit, not because the state expanded the beach, but because Florida, by adding the sand, claimed itself the beach's owner. Under common law, the public owns the beach up to the high water mark—the highest point at which the tide touches the beach—signified by the beach's wet sand. Mr. Gould wrote that the private owners are then entitled to the dry sand and in this case, it would mean they were the rightful owners of the beach and not the state.
The property owners are seeking compensation from Florida, contending that the state has turned their private land into public property and converted their oceanfront homes into ocean view homes. Mr. Gould pointed to previous instances of public beach expansion, in which the state utilized its power of eminent domain and compensated private owners for taking the property. However, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the property owners were only entitled to ocean access and did not have property rights to the beach, drastically changing over 100 years of common law.
Mr. Gould expects that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision will have a considerable impact on property rights, as it will likely decide whether beachfront owners have property rights to the beach and are entitled to compensation from the state for the taking of beach property. To read the full article, please click on the link below.
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