Articles

Author: Joshua Thompson PLF Clients George and Sharlee McNamee will appear on the show Fox & Friends tomorrow morning, February 24, at 5:44 a.m., PST.  The McNamees own a beachfront home along Corona Del Mar Beach in Newport Beach, California.  They have lived there for about three decades.  The McNamees, like thei ...

Six years ago PLF filed its complaint in federal court in Severance v. Patterson, a case challenging Texas’ policy of instantly converting private beachfront land into public property when storms move the vegetation line inland, and turn private parcels into “dry beaches.” In 2009, the 5th circuit ruled that Texas’  � ...

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has this nice article on PLF’s recent victory in Severance v. Patterson.  Here’s a snippet: In March, the Texas Supreme Court, in a 5-3 opinion, ruled that public beach easements don’t move in avulsive events, such as hurricanes, that reshape the coastline overnight. Easements shift only slowly, as ...

Texas isn’t the only state  that has been attempting to convert private beachfront land into public property through the use of novel legal theories. North Carolina and its political subdivisions have also moved in the same, unfortunate direction.  And once again, PLF is going to court on behalf of owners of beachfront property to try R ...

Today, the Texas Supreme Court handed down a short but sweet victory for Texas property owners who had their land and beach homes taken for use as a public beach, without compensation, by the State of Texas and Village of Surfside. The case arises from a long running dispute in Surfside, Texas, a small, but popular coastal area. At … ...

In North Carolina, Texas, California and other regions, Pacific Legal Foundation has worked diligently to protect the property rights of coastal land owners . We have also fought for many years to ensure that property owners of all sorts have equal access to the federal courts to defend their constitutional rights. Today, the Fourth Circuit … ...

PLF continues to make headway in its twin goals of protecting property rights on the beach and in opening the federal courthouse doors to property owners seeking to defend their constitutionally protected property rights. The latest example of this reality is a new victory in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in (another) case pitting … ...

If you have ever walked along North Carolina’s ocean beaches or even seen photos, you will notice that there are many beach cottages on, or immediately adjacent to, the dry sand areas of the beach. This is because the dry sand beach area is privately owned land in North Carolina, as it is in most coastal … ...

Today, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in Porretto v. Patterson, a complicated beach takings case.  The Porrettos have owned a dry beach area in Galveston, Texas, since the 1950’s. Some of their property lies just seaward of the Galveston seawall, between the wall and the wet beach area along the Gulf of Texas.  The Porrettos h ...