A sign warning the public away from Moody Beach in Wells, Maine. Photo: Jim Petkiewicz // Unsplash
For years, a debate has been raging over who gets to use the beach in Wells, Maine. Now, a lawsuit seeking to restore public access to Moody Beach is going to the Maine Supreme Court, but the plaintiffs face stiff opposition in the form of a public interest law firm that helped overturn Chevron deference, as the Maine Morning Star reports..
A 1989 decision by the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine established private ownership down to the low-tide mark and limited public use to “fishing, fowling, and navigation.” This made the majority of Moody Beach private, limiting public access to just a few, narrow slivers of beach. Since then, it has led to multiple confrontations between beach-goers and the beachfront property owners who seek to keep them out. “This has become a hostile environment where people are confronted and yelled at. The cops are called and people are told they have to move,” Jeannie Connerney, a local homeowner and member of Free Moody Beach, told News Center Maine.
Surfing and environmental advocacy group Surfrider also weighed in, writing in a statement, “[The 1989 ruling] has led to the absurd result, as noted by former Chief Justice Leigh Saufley, that a person may walk along a Maine beach carrying a fishing rod or a gun, but may not walk along that same beach empty-handed or carrying a surfboard.”
In response, more than 20 plaintiffs filed Peter Masucci v. Judy’s Moody in April 2021, with the the goal of reversing the decision and restoring public beach access.
As of two years ago, the defense has been represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a California-based public interest firm that takes up libertarian and conservative causes with the hope of setting legal precedent. In July 2023, the organization filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overrule Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The court ultimately ruled to strike down the legal precedent known as “Chevron deference,” which previously guided courts to defer to the expertise of federal agencies when interpreting unclear laws.
The PLF’s argument regarding Moody Beach is essentially that the 1989 decision was correct, and that overturning it would amount to “taking” property from private owners. “This is an important case because it’s a challenge to this longstanding precedent,” Chris Kieser, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, told the Maine Morning Star.
In April 2022, a Superior Court Justice dismissed four of the five counts, ruling that the intertidal zones belonged to the property owners. However, the plaintiffs have since appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Both sides are expected to file briefs in the coming months.
