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Ruling today in Pacific Legal Foundation’s case of Severance v. Patterson, the Texas Supreme Court once again rejected the state’s claim that government can gain control of private beachfront land whenever the land loses its vegetation and becomes a dry, sand area. In other words, the court held that the state may not “roll” ...

Today, the Texas Supreme Court issued its long-awaited final ruling on the legality of that state’s policy of “rolling easements”—i.e., transforming private land into a public beach whenever a storm denudes it of vegetation and makes it into dry sand. PLF challenged this policy on behalf of Carol Severance, who owned parcels al ...

Although it is not entirely unexpected, the handwringing in Texas over the recent Severance beach property rights decision has reached a fever pitch. The decision held, of course, that “Texas does not recognize a rolling beach easement” that turns private land into a public beach the moment the land loses its vegetation and becomes a ...

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 ...

Recently, bloggers and even the Texas Land Commissioner were decrying several Texas Supreme Court Justices for their “extreme activism” in ruling in favor of property owners in Severance v. Patterson. What was the reason for this outrage? Simple: the Court found that if the state wished to declare that Mrs. Severance’s private pr ...

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 … ...

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