GrayRobinson Files U.S. Supreme Court Brief on Behalf of the Coalition for Property Rights

ORLANDO, Fla. (August 21, 2009) -- GrayRobinson, P.A. attorneys Menelaos Papalas and Sidney Ansbacher with Robert Lincoln of Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg filed an amicus curiae brief Thursday with the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the Coalition for Property Rights (CPR). The brief is in support of a small group of beachfront property owners whose legal battle to preserve their property rights and boundary lines has risen to the nation's highest court.

"The rights of all Florida oceanfront property owners are at stake in this landmark coastal property rights case, " states CPR Executive Director Carol Saviak. "By siding with governmental interests in the Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection case, Florida's Supreme Court has given government entities the ability to change the property boundary lines of coastal property owners and to create new public beaches on once-private land under the guise of beach renourishment. CPR is pleased to stand with the petitioners in their Supreme Court appeal."

The case involves property owners along 6.9 miles of beaches in Walton County and nearby Destin in neighboring Okaloosa County. Because their properties border the ocean, they have "littoral" rights. These include the right to benefit from accretion, the slow natural process of the beach widening over time. Another important littoral right is the right for the property to touch the water, affording the owner direct access to the ocean. As part of the beach renourishment project, which is authorized under Florida's "Beach and Shore Preservation Act," the state added sand to the beach on the basis that the beach was "critically eroded." But the state declared that it owns this new stretch of beach, not the previous owners. The state actually changed the boundaries of these properties. The new boundary no longer touches the ocean, it now touches on a public beach. So, instead of having oceanfront property that might accrete over time and having direct access to the ocean, these property owners now have only ocean view properties. These owners, who paid a premium to own properties on a private beach, no longer have the right to exclude others because now their beach is no longer private.

The Stop the Beach Renourishment v. FDEP petition will be heard on the upcoming docket of the U.S. Supreme Court. This case is expected to be the first property rights case heard by recently confirmed Justice Sonia Sotomayor and will be viewed as a pivotal test of her judicial views on the level of protection offered by the U.S. Constitution.

"We are asking the Supreme Court to clarify that littoral rights can't be taken and property boundaries modified by the government without notice, a judicial hearing, and payment of full and just compensation," Papalas, who concentrates in eminent domain and other property rights cases, says. "These are all requirements of the Due Process and Takings Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. If government is permitted to simply confiscate property from a small minority of citizens - those fortunate enough to own land on the ocean - then the property rights we all cherish can be taken, too."

About the Coalition for Property Rights
The Coalition for Property Rights (CPR) is a grassroots, education and advocacy organization based in Florida, which was founded to protect property rights and to provide a greater voice for Florida property owners. CPR's mission is to educate the public, elected officials and the courts on the importance of private property rights and to defend these rights from further erosion. The Coalition for Property Rights has land owner members across the State of Florida, including coastal property owners. For additional information, please visit www.proprights.com or call 407-481-2289.

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