Vaughn v. Vermilion Corporation
| Citation | 444 U.S. 206,62 L.Ed.2d 365,100 S.Ct. 399 |
| Decision Date | 04 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-1819,77-1819 |
| Parties | Norman VAUGHN, Freddie Broussard and Larry J. Broussard, Petitioners, v. VERMILION CORPORATION |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
John K. Hill, Jr., Lafayette, La., for petitioners.
Harry McCall, Jr., New Orleans, La., for respondent.
The legal principles stated today in our opinion in Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. 164, 100 S.Ct. 383, 62 L.Ed.2d 332, control the disposition of this case. Because of its posture here, however, we find it necessary to remand the case to the Court of Appeal of Louisiana. We think a brief statement of the facts and proceedings below will be helpful to an understanding of our disposition.
Respondent Vermilion Corp. leases a substantial amount of acreage, owned by Exxon Co., in the State of Louisiana. The land is traversed by a system of manmade canals, which are approximately 60 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The canals are both subject to tidal fluctuations and navigable in fact. They were constructed with private funds, and have been continuously in the control and possession of respondent Vermilion Corp., Exxon, and their predecessors, for a long period of time.
The canal system enters other naturally navigable waterways, and lies between the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The canals are used for fishing and hunting and are also used by Exxon for oil and gas exploration and development activities. Respondent Vermilion subleases portions of the Exxon land to hunters, trappers, and fishers, and the right to use the canals is a part of the sublease agreement.
In order to control access to the land and the canals, over 400 "No Trespassing" signs are posted in various locations. Respondent Vermilion Corp. employs people to supervise activities in the canals and on the land, and on numerous occasions such people have prohibited strangers from entering and using the property in question.
The present controversy arises out of petitioners' insistence that notwithstanding Vermilion's property rights, they were entitled as a matter of federal law—without obtaining respond- ent's permission—to enter the property, travel the canals, and engage in commercial fishing and shrimping activities. Petitioners disregarded several written warnings issued by respondent; respondent then filed suit in the Louisiana state court seeking permanent injunctions against petitioners from trespassing on the land and making use of the canals.*
After commencement of the litigation, respondent moved for summary judgment, based on affidavits and a deposition, pursuant to the appropriate article of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure. The trial court granted the motion and petitioners appealed to the Louisiana Court of Appeal. That court affirmed. 356 So.2d 551. The petition for certiorari here sets forth two questions for review. Pet. for Cert. 5. The first is if a private citizen on his privately held real property and with private funds creates a system of artificial navigable waterways, in part by means of diversion or destruction of a pre-existing natural navigable waterway, does the artificially developed waterway system become part of the "navigable waterways of the United States" and subject to the use of all citizens of the United States? The second is whether channels built on private property and with private funds, in such a manner that they ultimately join with other navigable waterways, are similarly open to use by all citizens of the United States. The difference between the two questions is obvious: The first posits the diversion or destruction of a pre-existing natural navigable waterway in the process of construction of the private waterway, whereas the second does not. We think that our opinion in Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. 164, 100 S.Ct. 383, 62 L.Ed.2d 332, adequately answers the second question presented for review and that the Louisiana Court of Appeal was correct in determining that on such facts no general right of use in the public arose by reason of the authority over navigation conferred upon Congress by the Commerce Clause of Art. I of the United States Constitution. But the Louisiana Court of Appeal also held that even though the destruction or diversion of naturally navigable waterways occurred in the process of constructing the private waterways, the result would be no different. In so doing, the Court of Appeal relied on Ilhenny v. Broussard, 172 La. 895, 135 So. 669 (1931), a decision of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. The Court of Appeal, in the light of this decision, held that a factual dispute...
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Kaiser Aetna v. United States
...the judgment of the Court of Appeals was correct. I therefore dissent. 1. In the companion to this case, Vaughn v. Vermilion Corp., 444 U.S. 206, 100 S.Ct. 399, 62 L.Ed.2d 365, the Louisiana Court of Appeal held that privately constructed canals, connected to navigable waters of the United ......
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United States v. State of Wash.
...is misplaced. In Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. 164, 100 S.Ct. 383, 62 L.Ed.2d 332 (1979), and Vaughn v. Vermilion Corp., 444 U.S. 206, 100 S.Ct. 399, 62 L.Ed.2d 365 (1979), the Supreme Court held that when a private party builds channels on private property with private funds, the......
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Dycus v. Sillers
...waters would reside in the owners of record. Black v. Williams, 417 So.2d 911, 912 (Miss.1982); see also Vaughn v. Vermillion Corp., 444 U.S. 206, 100 S.Ct. 399, 62 L.Ed.2d 365 (1979). This would not be true if the Crevasse and chute of today had been created entirely by a natural though av......
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Boone v. U.S.
...we decline to follow it.16 The Supreme Court also considered, and decided on the same day as Kaiser Aetna, Vaughn v. Vermilion, 444 U.S. 206, 100 S.Ct. 399, 62 L.Ed.2d 365 (1979). Vaughn involved a system of manmade canals subject to tidal fluctations and navigable in fact. Id. at 207, 100 ......