Parm v. Shumate

Rule of Law:

Neither the federal navigational servitude, which is limited to commerce and navigation, nor Louisiana state law, which limits public use of private riverbanks to purposes incidental to navigation, grants the public a right to fish on private property temporarily submerged by the floodwaters of a navigable river.

Facts:

• Normal Parm, Jr. and other plaintiffs are recreational fishermen who fish on the Mississippi River in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana.
• Walker Cottonwood Farms owns a large tract of private property (the 'Property') located between the Mississippi River and its levees, which includes crop lands, forests, and a body of water known as Gassoway Lake.
• During the spring season, the Mississippi River regularly floods and rises to a level that completely submerges Walker's Property, including Gassoway Lake, for about two months.
• Gassoway Lake is located nearly three-and-a-half miles from the ordinary low water mark of the Mississippi River and is connected to the river by a man-made drainage ditch.
• The Plaintiffs fished in the waters of Gassoway Lake when it was flooded, despite knowing that the landowner, Walker, objected to their presence.
• Beginning in 1996, Walker filed complaints with East Carroll Parish Sheriff Mark Shumate regarding boaters fishing on the flooded Property.
• Sheriff Shumate responded to the complaints by arresting the Plaintiffs for criminal trespass.

Procedural Posture:

• Plaintiffs were arrested for trespass by Sheriff Shumate but were not prosecuted.
• Landowner Walker filed suit in Louisiana state trial court seeking a declaration of ownership and an injunction against the public.
• The state trial court granted summary judgment and a permanent injunction for Walker.
• The State of Louisiana, as a party, appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana, which reversed the summary judgment.
• Plaintiffs filed a § 1983 false arrest suit against Sheriff Shumate in U.S. District Court.
• The federal district court stayed the case pending the outcome of the state court litigation, a decision which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed on an initial appeal.
• On remand, the state trial court ruled after a trial that Walker owned the Property and had the right to exclude the public.
• The state appellate court affirmed the ownership finding but lifted the injunction, pretermitted (declined to decide) the public servitude issue.
• After the state proceedings concluded, the federal district court lifted its stay and granted summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Shumate, finding he had probable cause for the arrests.
• Plaintiffs (as appellants) appealed the grant of summary judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.