ELR Citation: ELR 20081
No(s). 18 (N.C. Nov 18, 1970)

Trial court's non-suit after trial of an Atlantic Ocean littoral landowner's action for compensation for foreshore lands reclaimed by the municipality as an erosion-resistant sand berm is affirmed. Under the Submerged Lands Act of 1953, 43 U.S.C. §§1301 et seq., and North Carolina statutory and common law, the Atlantic foreshore in North Carolina is reserved for public use. Once the littoral landowner's title in the land had been divested by erosion which caused it to drop below the mean high tide line, reclamation of that land under a 1963 North Carolina statute authorizing the municipality to fill in shore lands for the prevention of future erosion did not operate to reconvey title to the littoral landowner.

Counsel for Carolina Beach Fishing Pier, Inc.
George Roundtree, Jr.
Roundtree and Clark
222 Princess Street
P.O. Box 1409
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 763-5157

John C. Wessell, Jr.
Peoples Savings Building
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 762-8619

Counsel for Carolina Beach
Adelison Hewlet, Jr.
Odd Fellow Building
P.O. Box 121
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 763-0156

Hogue, Hill and Rowe
6th Floor, Carolina Power and Light Building
Wilmington, NC 28401
(919) 762-2665

Appeal by plaintiff from Cohoon, J., 16 December 1969 Civil Session of New Hanover Superior Court.