High Court Hears Florida Property Rights Case With National Impact

May government cancel long-accepted rights of property owners, without providing any compensation?

This is a central question in a property rights case that the U.S. Supreme Court heard today – Wednesday, Dec. 2.

The facts in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection concern beachfront property in the Sunshine State – but the impact of the case could affect homeowners and other property owners in every part of the nation.

Steven Geoffrey Gieseler, managing attorney of PLF’s Atlantic Center office in Stuart, Florida, submitted a friend of the court brief in support of the property owners. Watch his take on this important case:

The plaintiffs – beachfront homeowners in Destin, Florida – challenged a government program that rebuilds private beaches damaged by erosion. The problem with the program is that, after “restoring” the beach, the government arbitrarily curtails the owners’ rights to their beach property.

And in this particular case, government officials invaded private property in a particularly egregious way – they “restored” a beach where there had not been any erosion, and where the owners did not want any new sand.

In support of the program, the state Legislature nullified long-established property rights of beachfront owners. When the Florida Supreme Court upheld this action, it violated its Fifth Amendment duty to defend property owners’ rights.

As PLF’s Steven Geoffrey Gieseler put it: “Just as with regulators, courts must be overruled when they violate the Fifth Amendment.”

For more information, visit: www.pacificlegal.org.