Opinion ID: 2002387
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Issues and Rulings in the Circuit Court

Text: The Beckers' and their co-parties' properties are located at various spots on the North and Southeast Branches of Boone Creek. In the circuit court they asserted that they owned various vessels by which they navigated between the branches of the Creek and from the Creek to the Choptank River. They alleged that Boone Creek to the south and southeast of Sol's Island was too shallow to permit navigation as a practical matter. Thus, the only way they could move between the branches, and for those whose properties lay on the Southeast Branch, into the Choptank, was through the narrow channel between Sol's Island and the mainland. A bridge with only three feet of vertical clearance would effectively block this navigation. This, averred the Beckers, would deprive them of their riparian rights and cause substantial depreciation in the values of their properties. They claimed, moreover, that the Littys should have obtained certain Talbot County permits for the bridge. And in their amended complaint, the Beckers insisted that a State Highway Administration (SHA) permit the Littys had somewhat belatedly acquired invalidated the Coast Guard permit because the SHA document called for five feet of vertical clearance rather than three. [2] Judge Wise did not accept any of these arguments. He held that the Beckers were complaining about interference with a right of navigation, which is a public right, as opposed to one of the bundle of rights possessed by riparian owners. In view of the Coast Guard's jurisdiction over navigable waters, he opined that any injunction he might issue would not prevail over the Coast Guard permit. As to any conflict between the Coast Guard permit and the SHA permit, he saw that as a problem for the Littys and the agencies to resolve. He thought that Talbot County has no jurisdiction over navigable waters. In any event, he was of the view that the Beckers had shown no harm different from that suffered by the public in general, and so had no standing to raise possible violations of County law or, for that matter, of the SHA permit. Convinced that the Beckers have had full opportunity to air their complaints and objections before the agencies empowered to consider them, Judge Wise concluded: The continuation of this proceeding represents an unjustified usurpation of jurisdiction vested by law with the U.S. Coast Guard and the State Highway Administration. This Court cannot, by way of injunction, subvert that jurisdiction or permit [the Beckers] to do []an []end[] run[] around the process for appealing decisions of administrative agencies. As we have recounted, he granted summary judgment in favor of the Littys. The Beckers appealed to the Court of Special Appeals; we granted the writ of certiorari before any proceedings were had in that court. 315 Md. 140, 553 A.2d 706 (1989).