Mean High Water Line

22 Florida cases classified under this topic · sorted by citation count · see the citation graph · browse and sort

• State v. Falls Chase Special Taxing Dist.
  424 So. 2d 787· Fla. 1st DCA· 1982-07-23 ·cited 72×
  The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (DER) appealed a circuit court judgment granting Falls Chase's motion for judgment on the pleadings in a dispute over DER's jurisdictional authority to regulate dredge and fill activities. The court held that DER lacked jurisdict
• Trs. OF the Internal Improvement Fund of Fla. v. Wetstone
  222 So. 2d 10· Fla.· 1969-03-26 ·cited 30×
  This dissenting opinion argues that the lower courts erred in holding an ancient meander line, rather than the line of mean high water, as the boundary between private uplands and state sovereignty lands.
• State OF Fla. Bd. OF Trs. OF the Internal Improvement Tr. Fund v. Charley Topping & Sons, Inc.
  514 F.2d 700· 5th Cir.· 1975-06-11 ·cited 19×
  The court held that the appellant failed to prove ownership of the excavated land and that the district court did not err in adopting counsel's findings or taking judicial notice of related proceedings.
• Buending v. Town of Redington Beach
  10 F.4th 1125· 11th Cir.· 2021-08-20 ·cited 14×
  The court held that the Town was entitled to raise customary use as an affirmative defense under Fla. Stat. § 163.035(4) and that genuine disputes of material fact precluded summary judgment on the issue of customary use. The court also vacated the First Amendment retaliation cla
• S. Venice Corp. v. Caspersen
  229 So. 2d 652· Fla. 2d DCA· 1969-12-19 ·cited 13×
  South Venice Corporation and W & A Construction Corporation appealed a trial court judgment awarding Caspersen ownership of submerged lands and an island in Lemon Bay, along with determining property boundaries in Sarasota County. The court affirmed the trial court's findings tha
• Reily Enters., LLC v. Fla. Dep't OF Env't Prot.
  990 So. 2d 1248· Fla. 4th DCA· 2008-09-24 ·cited 10×
  Reily Enterprises appealed the Florida DEP's denial of a permit to build a seawall and retaining wall on Indian River property, challenging the agency's decision that neighboring property owner Thomas Fullman had standing to contest the permit. The court affirmed, holding that th
• Trepanier v. Cnty. OF Volusia
  965 So. 2d 276· Fla. 5th DCA· 2007-09-14 ·cited 9×
  Beachfront property owners in Volusia County challenged the county's allowance of public vehicular traffic and parking on their platted beach lots, claiming trespass and inverse condemnation. The appellate court reversed the trial court's summary judgment for the county on prescr
• Snake River Ranch v. United States
  542 F.2d 555· 10th Cir.· 1976-10-04 ·cited 8×
  A patent incorporating an official plat incorporates its descriptive material, and a meander line is not a boundary unless there is gross error in the survey.
• Town OF Longboat KEY v. Mezrah
  467 So. 2d 488· Fla. 2d DCA· 1985-04-19 ·cited 4×
  The Town of Longboat Key appealed a trial court judgment requiring it to allow a property owner to proceed with multi-family construction under an R-2 zoning variance that the town had rescinded. The court affirmed, holding that the town was equitably estopped from denying the de
• Starnes v. Marcon Inv. Grp.
  571 F.2d 1369· 5th Cir.· 1978-04-28 ·cited 4×
  The court held that the Florida Marketable Record Title Act extinguishes state claims to submerged lands when private parties have held record title for over 30 years without state objection.
• Bartecki v. Dep't OF Cmty. Affairs
  498 So. 2d 972· Fla. 1st DCA· 1986-11-25 ·cited 3×
  Appellants challenged a denial of their development order for a residential project with a dock in the Florida Keys. The appellate court reversed parts of the Commission's decision, holding that unadopted administrative principles were improperly applied, that the Commission lack
• Fla. Dep't OF Natural Res. v. Ry. Mktg. Corp.
  485 So. 2d 840· Fla. 5th DCA· 1986-02-27 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the State's approval of survey procedures for determining the current mean high water line does not estop the State from asserting title to sovereignty lands based on the historic mean high water line.
• United States v. Kane
  602 F.2d 490· 2d Cir.· 1979-07-12 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the Army Corps of Engineers' denial of a permit for fences below the mean high water line was not adequately supported by the administrative record, and the district court erred in granting summary judgment.
• Accardi v. Regions Bank
  201 So. 3d 743· Fla. 4th DCA· 2016-09-21 ·cited 1×
  Accardi appeals a trial court's judgment granting foreclosure to Regions Bank and reforming the mortgage to include alluvial land that naturally accumulated oceanfront of his original property. The court affirms, holding that alluvium formed by natural accretion automatically bec
• Geise v. Fleck
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-04-02
  Riparian-rights disputes involving sovereign submerged land underlying a navigable lake are governed by the test of whether one riparian owner's use unreasonably interferes with another's riparian rights, not the equitable distribution test from Hayes v. Bowman, which applies onl
• Daniels v. Town of Palm Beach
  S.D. Fla.· 2025-08-18
  The court held that the Fifth Amendment due process claim is dismissed, the Fourteenth Amendment due process claim is dismissed due to adequate state remedies, and the First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed for failure to plead absence of probable cause.
• Bd. OF Trs. OF the Internal Improvement Tr. Fund & The Fla. Dep't of Env't Prot. v. Walton Cnty.
  121 So. 3d 1166· Fla. 1st DCA· 2013-09-23
  The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund appealed a trial court's decision to retain venue in Leon County for an inverse condemnation lawsuit filed by property owners whose land was affected by a beach restora
• Dep't OF Natural Res. & Bd. of Trs. of the Internal Improvement Tr. Fund v. Ry. Mktg. Corp.
  599 So. 2d 1346· Fla. 5th DCA· 1992-05-15
  The State appeals a trial court judgment denying its quiet title claim to 7.1 acres of filled sovereign land adjacent to the Crystal River. The court reversed, holding that the State established its title to the disputed land by clear and convincing evidence and that the trial co
• ST. Joseph Land & Dev. Co. v. The Fla. State Bd. of Trs. of the Internal Improvement Tr. Fund
  365 So. 2d 1084· Fla. 1st DCA· 1979-01-10
  St. Joseph Land and Development Company challenged the trial court's determination that the mean high water line, rather than the meander line shown on the original government survey, forms the boundary between its coastal property and state-owned submerged lands. The appellate c
• Fla. First Nat'l Bank at Key W. v. Trs. of the Internal Improvement Fund
  36 Fla. Supp. 42· Monroe Cty. Cir. Ct.· 1971-07-23
  A trial court determined the boundary line between privately-owned government lots and state sovereignty lands in the Florida Keys. The court held that the original 1873 U.S. survey meander line, rather than the mean high water line, controls the boundary because the natural monu