Beachfront property owner lawsuit against sheriff’s office has been dismissed The Defuniak Herald & Beach Breeze – DeFuniak Springs Herald

IN A LAWSUIT filed in federal court, Walton County beachfront property owners had raised claims that, in allowing the public on the beach on four privately-owned lots in Walton County, the county sheriffs office had allowed members of the public to possess the property. The property owners and the WCSO recently agreed to dismissal of the lawsuit. (Photo by Dotty Nist)

By DOTTY NIST

A lawsuit filed by Walton County beachfront property owners against the Walton County Sheriffs Office (WCSO) has been dismissed within less than six months time.

At the end of October 2020, plaintiffs CBHIV, L.L.C., owner of four beachfront lots south of San Roy Road in the Eastern Lake community, had sued the WCSO and Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson in federal court, asserting that their beachfront property had been physically appropriated for public use due to the actions of sheriffs office personnel.

The property owners stated that their property extends to the mean high water line of the Gulf of Mexico, which as shown by the Plaintiffs survey, as well as Walton County records, lies below the current wet-sand and water line.

The lawsuit stemmed from visits by sheriffs office personnel in response to the owners requests for assistance in enforcing the trespass laws with regard to uninvited members of the public (beachgoers) present on the beach on their property.

The property owners stated that WCSO personnel, at those visits, had drawn their own lines and authorized and placed members of the public in possession of the Plaintiffs property, without regard to Plaintiffs property lines or the rights of Plaintiff to its property.

A specific instance of such a request and WCSO response, stated to have occurred on May 27, 2020, was referenced in the lawsuit. The property owners reported that a deputy responding to their trespassing complaint on that date drew his own perceived line and allowed the public to use the property lying south of such line The property owners further alleged that the line drawn in the sand by the deputy was located approximately 40 feet north of Plaintiffs southerly boundary.

The property owners asserted that these actions by the WCSO had been without legal authority and had represented violations of the U.S. Constitutions Fifth Amendments Takings Clause and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.

They requested that the court declare the referenced actions by the WCSO unconstitutional and that the WCSO be barred from future seizures which deprive Plaintiff of its property rights.

In a Nov. 23, 2020, response, Adkinson clarified that although (along with the sheriff) the WCSO had been named as a separate entity in the lawsuit, there is no such legal entity separate and apart from the office of Sheriff.

Adkinson denied violation of the plaintiffs Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, or Fourth Amendment rights.

No actions or injuries complained of in the Complaint were based on any policy, custom, or practice of the Sheriff, nor were they taken by any policy maker, according to his response.

All actions attributable to the Sheriff were taken in good faith and were reasonable under the facts and circumstances, Adkinson declared.

Adkinson denied that any action of the sheriff had risen to the level of a Fifth Amendment taking.

He argued that the complained of action did not violate the property owners Fourteenth Amendment due process rights, that the beachfront property allegedly impacted was not within the scope of property protected by the Fourth Amendmentand that the alleged actions of the Sheriff did not result in a meaningful interference with Plaintiffs possessory interests in its property sufficient to rise to the level of a seizure.

Calling the property owners claims wholly frivolous, unreasonable, and without legal or factual foundation, Adkinson asked the court to enter a judgment in his favor. He also requested a trial by jury for any issues tried.

With no additional filing of motions by either party, on April 20, 2021, Adkinson and the property owners agreed to a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal without Prejudice. The agreement provided for the case to be dismissed in its entirety, without prejudice, with each party bearing its own costs and fees. On April 21, the court recorded that case as having been disposed.

Link:
Beachfront property owner lawsuit against sheriff's office has been dismissed The Defuniak Herald & Beach Breeze - DeFuniak Springs Herald