Specifically, plaintiffs alleged that the Caernarvon project diluted the salinity level in the waters above their leased grounds and caused silt deposits in the leased area. These conditions were not favorable to oyster growth. As a result, the Government's Caernarvon project prevented them from continuing to cultivate oysters on their leased beds. The Court of Federal Claims granted the Government's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the oysterers held no compensable property interest. Since the State acquired no property interest in the salinity level of the waters above plaintiffs' leased grounds, plaintiffs could have acquired no such right from the State, and thus no property interest to be taken.
Plaintiffs appeal that determination.
On appeal, the views of the trial court regarding the applicable law in light of the undisputed facts are given full consideration, but a grant of summary judgment is reviewed without special deference to the trial court's decision. In this case, though the parties disagree about certain factual issues, the facts material to the decision are not in genuine dispute. The case was argued below, and the trial judge based her decision, on the issue of whether these plaintiffs owned a compensable property interest. Much of the argument there, as on appeal, focused on whether plaintiffs have a vested right, derived from the State, in an unintended benefit resulting from a federal government project, such that cessation of that benefit, due to the consequences of a separate federal project, warrants compensation under the Fifth Amendment. The record establishes that plaintiffs own long-term leases from the State, which leases entitle plaintiffs to use the lands under the waters of the Breton Sound Basin for the cultivation and harvesting of oysters.