Real Estate & Property Law

Behind The Music: Stop The Beach Renourishment And Judicial Takings

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

Courtesy of the New York Times is the backstory of Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection, No. 08-11 (cert. granted. June 15, 2009). This, of course, is the "judicial takings" case that was argued in the Supreme Court last December, and is now awaiting disposition (our summary page contains links to the briefs -- including the amicus brief we filed -- and other case materials).

And when the Times goes back, it really goes back:

The sands found Destin first. They started off eons ago, from the Appalachian Mountains, washing their way down the rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Winnowed to pure, hardy quartz, the sediment moved with the gulf?s currents and gathered into the necklace of narrow barrier islands that buffer Florida?s Panhandle. Time and tides refined the sand into a soft, sun-bleached powder. By the 1830s, when a Yankee sea captain named Leonard Destin sailed down to the wilderness of the Florida Territory, he discovered beaches as dazzling and white as a fresh blanket of snow.

Andrew Rice, A Stake in the Sand (Mar. 15, 2010). Worth reading, even if it subtly paints at least one of the property owners objecting to loss of littoral rights as a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who (gasp!) reads things like autobiographies of Dolly Parton and Trent Lott, and books like "Little Pink House." Neanderthal Justices are treated a little better:

Last December, an attorney for the homeowners, Kent Safriet, made his argument before the Supreme Court. In questioning, several justices seemed quizzical about what exactly the property owners were being forced to give up. "You didn?t lose one inch," Stephen Breyer said. But others from the court?s conservative wing sounded more sympathetic, hatching high-spirited hypotheticals about hot-dog vendors and raucous spring break parties. In the end, though, even Antonin Scalia seemed to waver. "I'm not sure it?s a bad deal," he said, later interjecting that the alternative "may not change the property line, but all of your property might be underwater."

Joe Bob says "check it out."

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).