The case began in 1995, when John Andrejewski, against whom the fishing club brought the complaint, fished in a section of the Lehigh River the club had restricted for its private use. The case centered on the river's navigability. The Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County found the Lehigh River to be a public navigable waterway, in total. The Lehigh Falls Fishing Club appealed that decision to the state Superior Court, which upheld the lower court's decision. This case was not about the Lehigh River.
Private property is a sacred thing, but so is public property.
I do not believe any of the participants in this case are against the rights of private ownership, just the attempt to take private ownership of our public resources. Watch, too, for a future special fund-raiser. The PFSC and the public's right to fish in public waters have come out big winners. Recently, PFSC received notice that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania declined to hear the appeal, by the Lehigh Falls Fishing Club, of the Superior Court's decision upholding the navigability of, and by definition the public's right to fish and boat in, the Lehigh River. That denial ends legal steps the complainants can take, except for the unlikely occurrence they would ask and the Supreme Court of the United States would agree to review the Pennsylvania Superior Court's decision.