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They didnt answer because its a extremely complex question that varies from state to state.
Not really. Like I said, oceanfront property owners in all but Oregon, Texas, and NJ privately own the dry sand beach up to the mean high water mark line. The public has full use of the publicly owned wet sand beach (seaward from the mean high water mark line), which is likely to be fully submerged at high tide.
When Long Beach Township officials asked Robert Minke and his relatives to sign over some of their oceanfront property rights for the federal government to build a protective dune, the family was fine with the idea.
But when the township decided to use the south end of their property in the affluent Loveladies section as a public access road to the beach, that’s when the Minke family balked.
In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court on Wednesday, the family contends the township went too far in trying to create a beach access road, which they say will turn their otherwise private spot into a public beach.
The case highlights the ongoing disputes over oceanfront property ownership in New Jersey where some residents own up to a certain point of the beach and the public is allowed on the section closer to the water. But where public access has been limited, some beaches have become almost private because few people go there.
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The government is to spend 100 million dollars to replenish those public beaches.
On the surface, this sounds like a case of fraud. The officials were insincere (more bluntly, they may have lied about their intentions).
Not really. Like I said, oceanfront property owners in all but Oregon, Texas, and NJ privately own the dry sand beach up to the mean high water mark line. The public has full use of the publicly owned wet sand beach (seaward from the mean high water mark line), which is likely to be fully submerged at high tide.
Read one of my earlier links that covers this. It is in fact fairly complex. And it all involves the specifics of each case. You are vastly oversimplifying this.
Read one of my earlier links that covers this. It is in fact fairly complex.
Private property is private property. The pubic has full use of the publicly owned wet sand area of the beach (seaward of the mean high water mark line). Just like the public has full use of state roads, but cannot drive through someone's privately owned yard to get to them. Where's the problem with that?
Private property is private property. The pubic has full use of the publicly owned wet sand area of the beach (seaward of the mean high water mark line). Just like the public has full use of state roads, but cannot drive through someone's privately owned yard to get to them. Where's the problem with that?
See eminent domain. Usage thereof. Theres justifications for it, and right of ways to things of various sorts have been recognized as worthwhile. And in fact, the public CAN get eminent domain to create roads....that link them to the state roads.
The issue at hand is an easement in which the private property owner is unjustly forced to accept an involuntary HUGE increase in legal liability risk for whatever happens to the public on the easement. Very bad idea. If that can be done to an oceanfront property owner's private property at random, it can be done to a property owner whose private property abuts a public park, state road, etc., etc. at random. Does anyone really think that's a good idea?
The NY Times doesn't think so, as I've already posted:
Quote:
"THE rise in the number of liability suits over the last few years is creating new concerns for the many suburban and rural homeowners whose properties are subject to easements.
The fear is that a homeowner could be sued for negligence if an accident takes place on the easement - even if the condition of the easement or the activity on it appears at first glance to have been removed from the homeowner's control.
...Is this a reasonable concern? Absolutely, lawyers say. The reason is that there are ambiguities in the law. ''It's a gray area,'' said Catherine C. Kirk, a lawyer in Great Neck, L.I., who specializes in real estate and is also involved in equestrian activities that affect private property throughout Long Island.
One cause of the confusion, Ms. Kirk said, is that issues of easement liability are subject both to negligence and real property law."
The issue at hand is an easement in which the private property owner is unjustly forced to accept an involuntary HUGE increase in legal liability risk for whatever happens to the public on the easement. Very bad idea. If that can be done to an oceanfront property owner's private property at random, it can be done to a property owner whose private property abuts a public park, state road, etc., etc. at random. Does anyone really think that's a good idea?
The NY Times doesn't think so, as I've already posted:
Quote:
"THE rise in the number of liability suits over the last few years is creating new concerns for the many suburban and rural homeowners whose properties are subject to easements.
The fear is that a homeowner could be sued for negligence if an accident takes place on the easement - even if the condition of the easement or the activity on it appears at first glance to have been removed from the homeowner's control.
...Is this a reasonable concern? Absolutely, lawyers say. The reason is that there are ambiguities in the law. ''It's a gray area,'' said Catherine C. Kirk, a lawyer in Great Neck, L.I., who specializes in real estate and is also involved in equestrian activities that affect private property throughout Long Island.
One cause of the confusion, Ms. Kirk said, is that issues of easement liability are subject both to negligence and real property law."
In the case of a government body forcibly declaring a public use easement on private property (via eminent domain, etc.) and the private property owner on whose land the easement exists gets sued for an injury/death that occurs to a member of the public on the easement, who pays for the private property owner's legal defense? Or is that an additional unjust and unconstitutional burden placed on the private property owner?
In the case of a government body forcibly declaring a public use easement on private property (via eminent domain, etc.) and the private property owner on whose land the easement exists gets sued for an injury/death that occurs to a member of the public on the easement, who pays for the private property owner's legal defense? Or is that an additional unjust and unconstitutional burden placed on the private property owner?
And I rest my case. This is more complex then you represent. You are actually helping me demonstrate that with the links you have posted.
Now is it right? Thats a different question. And completely separate from your "simple hypothetical"
In the case of a government body forcibly declaring a public use easement on private property (via eminent domain, etc.) and the private property owner on whose land the easement exists gets sued for an injury/death that occurs to a member of the public on the easement, who pays for the private property owner's legal defense? Or is that an additional unjust and unconstitutional burden placed on the private property owner?
I don't know about NJ, but most of the northeastern states have an old tradition of public access to private property, and the law shields the property owners from any liability arising from it. If I hike or hunt on someone's land here in VT and get hurt I can't sue the owner over it. It's entirely my responsibility legally. Unless they charge a few for access, then they have no protection.
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