On Sept. 21, the N.J. Supreme Court settled the question of “[w]ho owns the property that previously was below the mean high water mark (MHWM) and that becomes dry land as a result of a government funded beach replenishment project?” City of Long Branch v. Liu , WL 3666821 (2010).
In this condemnation case which commenced in 2001, the Court predictably favored public rights over private property rights. It applied and relied on common-law principles governing the ownership of tidally flowed lands to hold that: “the expanded dry beach (previously tidally flowed) that was produced by the government-funded beach replenishment program fell within the public trust doctrine and was not the property of the upland owners, the Lius.”
