Articles

Florida ends Walton County’s unconstitutional land grab

March 26, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

On Friday, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed House Bill 631, ending Walton County’s attempt to steal free access to the private property of PLF’s clients Edward and Delanie Goodwin and landowners across Walton County. Forty years ago, the Goodwins’ built their beachfront home in Walton County, Florida. Like countless beachfront p ...

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PLF asks Supreme Court to hear massive beach land grab case

April 27, 2017 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

This week, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys filed a Petition for Certiorari asking the United States Supreme Court to review the case of Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, discussed more here.  The Petition presents the important question of “whether the Takings Clause permits a state to statutorily redefine an entire coastline of privately ow ...

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Florida city unconstitutionally authorizes public trespassing

April 12, 2017 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

In recent years, many local and state governments have used crafty methods to take access to private beaches without first paying for the right. Governments have imposed easements on private land, declared private land public, declared a right of custom where none existed, and attempted to expand the public trust doctrine beyond its limit. Today, ...

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Goodwins’ fight against land grab and First Amendment violations gaining national attention

February 28, 2017 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

This weekend, Forbes carried an excellent story about PLF’s fight on behalf of Edward and Delanie Goodwin. In July, PLF attorneys filed a First Amendment challenge to protect the Goodwins’ right to speak on their own private property. Walton County banned signs on privately owned beaches last year, hoping to allow the public to trespass ...

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Setting the town straight on North Carolina beach dispute

August 23, 2016 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

The dry beach takings case of Nies v.Town of Emerald Isle, described more fully here, continues to generate debate in North Carolina. Recently, the Manager of Defendant Town of Emerald Isle published an article criticizing the Nies’ s view of the case. The following PLF rebuttal to the Town Manager’s column was published Sunday, Augu ...

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Walton County couple speaks up for property owners’ First Amendment rights

August 15, 2016 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

The GoodwinsLast week, the Destin Log published my opinion article about Edward and Delanie Goodwin’s challenge to a Walton County, Florida, ordinance that bans signs on the Goodwins’ private property. PLF is representing the Goodwins in a First Amendment lawsuit. As I explain in the article, the Goodwins’ right to speak is inter ...

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NC Supreme Court agrees to review beach access takings case

April 15, 2016 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, a beach property rights dispute pitting a couple’s right to limit access to their beachfront land against a local government’s desire to open it up the land to public and town driving. The case arises from Emerald Isle, a barrier islan ...

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The Center for Biological Diversity goes batty

February 15, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The Center for Biological Diversity is threatening to sue the Fish & Wildlife Service for not imposing ruinous and unnecessary restrictions on private property owners throughout 37 states to protect the Northern long-eared bat. It contends that heavy-handed “take” regulations should be imposed despite the fact that the species is th ...

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PLF asks NC supreme Court to decide "public trust" beach takings case

December 29, 2015 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

On December 9, 2015, PLF attorneys asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals’  published decision in Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle. In that case, described more fully here, the Court of Appeals concluded, for the first time in state history, that the public and government may enter and occupy … ...