Opinion ID: 776660
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Procedural Due Process And Protected Property Interests.

Text: 5 The Hamiltons contend that the district court erred in its alternative holding that the defendants-appellees are entitled to summary judgment on the ground that the Hamiltons were unable to establish a constitutionally protected property interest in the waters of Reelfoot Lake or the land thereunder. In essence, the district court held that, by virtue of the State of Tennessee's ownership of Reelfoot Lake in public trust and the Tennessee legislature's enactments empowering state agencies to regulate the lake, even if the Hamiltons are Doherty land owners, they have no constitutionally protected property interests in their submerged land. 6 In considering procedural due process claims, this court first determines whether the interest at stake is within the Fourteenth Amendment's protection of liberty and property. See Ferencz v. Hairston, 119 F.3d 1244, 1247 (6th Cir.1997). Only after reaching a conclusion that the interest claimed is within that protection does this court consider the form and nature of the process that is due. See id. (citing Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570-71, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2705-06, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972)). Thus, in a section 1983 due process claim for deprivation of a property interest, a plaintiff first must show a protected property interest, and only after satisfying this first requirement can a plaintiff prevail by showing that `such interest was abridged without appropriate process.' Id. (quoting LRL Properties v. Portage Metro Hous. Auth., 55 F.3d 1097, 1108 (6th Cir.1995)). 7 Property interests protected by the due process clause must be more than abstract desires for or attractions to a benefit. See Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). The due process clause protects only those interests to which one has a legitimate claim of entitlement. Id. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. This has been defined to include `any significant property interests ... including statutory entitlements.' Brotherton, 923 F.2d 477, 480 (6th Cir.1991) (citations omitted). As previously stated, property interests are not created by the Fourteenth Amendment, rather they are created and defined by independent sources, such as state law. See id. at 480 (quoting Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709). State supreme court decisions are controlling authority for such determinations. See id. 8 As noted in the discussion supra in section II(B), the Hamiltons are claiming entitlement to riparian rights already determined by the Supreme Court of Tennessee to be protected property rights incident to the ownership of land submerged by Reelfoot Lake. See State ex rel. Cates v. West Tennessee Land Co., 127 Tenn. 575, 158 S.W. 746, 752-53 (Tenn.1913). The district court held, however, that the Hamiltons were unable to reasonably identify the areas of land submerged by the lake to which they claim ownership because their deed to their real property on the lake merely establishes that their property extends to the ordinary low water mark of Reelfoot Lake. As the Supreme Court of Tennessee held, as the Doherty lands were grantable by North Carolina, and were subject to private ownership before the formation of the lake, ... the mere fact that they have since become submerged by [Reelfoot Lake] does not deprive the owners of their title to the land as long as they can be reasonably identified. Id. 9 The Hamiltons contend, and the defendants-appellees do not dispute, that their property is subsumed within Doherty grant number fifty-one (51). In 1913, as is the case today, grant number 51 was not totally submerged, and portions of it formed parts of the shore of the lake. See id. As noted by the district court, the Hamiltons' 1979 warranty deed states that the Hamiltons' property on Reelfoot Lake extends to the lake's ordinary low water mark. Because the State of Tennessee condemned grant number 51 in 1913, any land that is submerged when the lake is below its 1913 low water mark is owned in public trust by the state. However, any land that is submerged when the lake is above its 1913 low water mark is part and parcel of Doherty grant number 51. Thus, the key determinant of whether the Hamiltons have protected riparian rights is the location of the 1913 low water mark on Reelfoot Lake. 10 There is no evidence in the record affirmatively establishing the low water mark of Reelfoot Lake in 1913. The parties presented competent summary judgment evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact as to this issue. In his affidavit in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, Jamie Hamilton stated that he saw the plans for the first spillway at Reelfoot Lake in 1917, and it showed the low water mark at 276.0 feet. This assertion, if true, is not merely conclusory and is based on a personal observation by the affiant. The defendants-appellees dispute the assertion, but do not present any evidence to the contrary. Rather, the defendants-appellees cite Tenn.Code Ann. § 70-5-113(b) which established the low water mark of Reelfoot Lake as of 1925: [A]s first established by the Reelfoot Lake commission of 1925 ... (1)[t]he natural ordinary low water mark is two hundred eighty-two and four-tenths (282.4) mean sea level which is also the top of the twenty (20) floodgates at the Reelfoot Lake spillway dam. 11 Evidently, it is the case that the current water level of Reelfoot Lake is approximately 282.4 feet — the same level the lake was at in 1925. The Hamiltons allege that, starting in 1917, the State of Tennessee constructed a series of spillways or dams progressively raising the lake's water level from 276 feet to its present level. According to a 1985 United States Geological Survey, a 276-foot water-surface elevation covers 4,660 acres in surface area while a 282-foot water-surface elevation covers 14,800 acres. The Hamiltons claim to own portions of Doherty grant 51 submerged after 1913, and a genuine issue for trial exists as to the extent of their ownership of the Reelfoot Lake lake bed. If the Hamiltons can establish ownership of Doherty lands submerged after 1913, the Hamiltons have protected riparian rights in the waters above those lands. 12