Florida Bd. of Trustees of Internal Imp. Trust Fund v. Wakulla Silver Springs Co.

• Decision Date: 26 September 1978
• Docket Number: No. 77-977,77-977
• Citation: 362 So.2d 706
• Parties: The FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF the INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND, Appellant, v. WAKULLA SILVER SPRINGS COMPANY, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 706

362 So.2d 706

The FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF the INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND, Appellant, v. WAKULLA SILVER SPRINGS COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 77-977.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Sept. 26, 1978.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen. and Martin S. Friedman, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Ana Tangel, Legal Intern, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Kent, Sears, Durden & Kent and Fred H. Kent, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellee.

Before PEARSON, HUBBART and KEHOE, JJ.

KEHOE, Judge.

Appellant, The Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, defendant below, brings this appeal from a final judgment entered on April 6, 1977, by the trial court in favor of appellee, Wakulla Silver Springs Company, plaintiff below. We affirm.

This action was filed on November 1, 1971, by appellee against appellant seeking a declaratory judgment as to the location of the boundary line of a tract of land owned by appellee on Key Largo, Monroe County, Florida. The tract owned by appellee is bound on three sides by water and it is admitted that appellant owns the adjacent submerged lands.

The complaint alleges that the waterfront lands owned by appellee were conveyed to its predecessors in title by deeds incorporating the plat of the original United States survey and that appellee and its predecessors in title have paid taxes on the lands based upon that description. Appellee admits that the mean high water line (MHWL) is the boundary; however, it alleges that the MHWL cannot be located accurately on these lands because the lands are low, wet, mangrove swamp.

Pursuant to appellee's motion for summary judgment, the trial court entered a partial summary judgment which held that appellee was the owner of the land in question, but the trial court reserved ruling on the location of the boundaries of the land. Also, appellant filed a motion to dismiss portions of appellee's complaint. This motion was denied by the trial court on April 1, 1973, and affirmed by this court on appeal in State Board of Trustees of Internal Improvement Trust Fund v. Pineta Co., 287 So.2d 126 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973).

This action was tried non-jury before the Honorable Ignatuis Lester on several days in April, May, and June of 1975. The final judgment entered by the trial judge on April 6, 1977, made extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law. Because of its complete treatment of the questions presented, we believe that the final judgment is deserving of being set forth herein. Further, we hold that the final judgment correctly disposed of the questions involved. The pertinent portions of the final judgment are as follows:

"This action was filed in November of 1971 by Wakulla Silver Springs Company ("Wakulla") under Chapter 87, F.S. (now Chapter 86, F.S.) seeking a declaratory judgment to determine the location of the boundary line which separates its lands from the submerged lands owned by the defendant, Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund ("Trustees "). The land at issue is a contiguous tract situated on a small peninsula on the southeast coast of Key Largo and is described as follows:

In Section 32, Township 61 South, Range 39 East:

Government Lot 6

In Section 5, Township 62 South, Range 39 East:

W 1/2 of Government Lot 1

W 1/2 of Government Lot 3

All of Government Lot 2

All of Government Lot 4

Each of the government lots contains waterfrontage, being bordered on one or more sides by either the Atlantic Ocean, Rock Harbor inlet or Rock Harbor basin.

"A partial summary judgment was entered on February 23, 1973 which held that Wakulla had title to the lands described above; however, the Court reserved ruling as to the boundaries of those lands. Final hearing was held before the Court, sitting without a jury on the amended complaint and answer in April and May of 1975.

"Wakulla contended at the final hearing: first, that it (or its immediate predecessor in the chain of title) was conveyed title to those government lots by the Trustees in 1943 and 1944; that at that time, the Trustees had the power to convey submerged lands; that if any of the lands at issue were or are below the mean high water line, then those submerged lands were conveyed to it by the Trustees. Second, Wakulla argued that the mean high water line rule does not apply to the west or northern coast of the peninsula because neither Rock Harbor inlet nor Rock Harbor basin are navigable. Third, that the Trustees are both legally and equitably estopped from reclaiming title to the lands at issue; and fourth, that the mean high water line cannot be located reasonably within the foreseeable future.

"The Board of Trustees contended that it has title to all lands lying below the mean high water line; that the mean high water line can be located; and that the meander line of the United States survey neither was nor is a boundary line.

1. Jurisdiction

"This Court has jurisdiction over both the parties to this action and the subject matter of this action, a question which was decided by the District Court of Appeal, Third District in its decision reported at 287 So.2d 126 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1973).

2. The Land

"The government lots at issue are situated on a small peninsula on the southeast coast of Key Largo. The peninsula is bounded on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Rock Harbor inlet and on the north by Rock Harbor basin. The total acreages recited in the Trustees' deed of conveyance to Wakulla or its predecessor in title, is 125.5 acres. The following is a drawing of the five government lots involved and the surrounding waters:

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

"The land itself, except for a small area in the northeast corner is low, flat, wet and covered with a dense growth of mangrove. The elevation of the land in the northeast corner of the property is relatively high. The nature of the land is a complicating factor. Most of the land is so low and flat that a slight vertical error in elevation of mean high water when projected onto the horizontal plane, would result in a substantial error in the location of the boundary line. Further, the mud and dense growth of mangrove add to the surveyors' problems.

3. History of Land Conveyances in Florida

"The United States acquired from Spain, by treaty in 1819, full property and sovereignty to all lands in Florida except those lands granted and approved prior to January 24, 1818. Under that treaty, the United States acquired title to the lands which constitute the beds or shores of the navigable waters as well as all other lands not privately owned. Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund v. Root, 63 Fla. 666, 58 So. 371 (1912); State, ex rel Ellis v. Gerbing, 56 Fla. 603, 47 So. 353 (1908); and U. S. v. 2,899.17 acres of land, 269 Fed.Supp. 903 (M.D.Fla.1967). Upon its admission to the Union in 1845, Florida acquired the right to own and hold the lands under navigable waters lying within the State, including the shores and space between the ordinary high and low water marks, which are called sovereignty lands. State, ex rel Ellis v. Gerbing, supra. Title to all other lands in the State of Florida remained in the United States.

"Congress, by Chapter LXXXIV, Acts of Congress of the United States, September 28, 1850, 9 Stat. 519 (43 U.S.C.A. § 981 Et seq.) granted and set up procedures for conveying swamp and overflowed lands to the State. The Act provided that the Secretary of Interior prepare an accurate list and survey plats of the swamp and overflowed lands and that he transmit these to the Governor of the State. The Governor of the State then submitted a selection list to the Secretary of Interior and certified to the Secretary that the lands were swamp and overflowed lands. Upon receipt of the certified selection list, the Secretary of Interior conveyed the lands to the State. Pierce v. Warren, 47 So.2d 857 (Fla.1950). Title to all sovereign lands and swamp and overflowed lands, upon receipt by the State of Florida, was vested in the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund. See Chapter 253, F.S.

"The Trustees did not have the power to convey sovereign lands prior to the enactment of Chapter 7304, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1917. Pierce v. Warren, supra. However, since 1917, the Trustees not only have had the power to convey submerged lands, but in fact, have conveyed hundreds of acres of submerged, sovereign lands to private individuals or corporations.

4. The Conveyance to Wakulla or its Predecessor in Title

"The United States caused the lands in this action to be surveyed and the coastline meandered in 1872. The United States survey platted the lands into government lots, and determined as a part of the plat, the acreage of each of those lots. Where a lot was bordered on one or more sides by water, the meander line of the coastline was used to determine the acreage of the lot. The lands involved in this action were conveyed either by patent from the United States to a private individual (Lot 6) or to the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund (Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4). The United States based the descriptions it used in its patents upon the plat of the original government survey, including the amount of acreage being conveyed. The State of Florida, in turn, used this same description, including the acreage, in its reconveyance of those lands.

"The Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund conveyed all the lands involved in this action to either Wakulla or its immediate predecessor in title by tax deeds in 1943 and 1944. In both conveyances, the Trustees utilized the descriptions of the original plat of the United States survey and the acreages which were determined by utilization of the meanderline on that plat. Wakulla and its predecessor in title have paid the taxes imposed by the State of Florida since 1943 and 1944. These taxes were and are based upon the acreages shown on both the plat of the United States Government survey and...