A state judge has reversed his own earlier ruling regarding the ownership of a stretch of beach in Amagansett, clearing the way for a lawsuit between a group of property owners in Amagansett and Napeague and the East Hampton Town Trustees to proceed to trial.
Judge Jerry Garguilo issued a ruling earlier this month that stepped back from a ruling he issued last year, one that appeared to conclude that the homeowners had no ownership rights to the stretch of beach that separates their homes from the Atlantic Ocean. It has become a controversial issue over its use by four-wheel-drive vehicles in summer.
“This is a very good decision, because it clarifies what I thought was clearly a mistake,” attorney Steve Angel, who represents the homeowners, said on Tuesday. “We have an unbroken chain of title back to the deed from the [East Hampton Town Trustees] to Arthur W. Benson in 1882.”
Judge Garguilo had based his previous decision—that the homeowners did not, in fact, have a claim of ownership over the beach—on notations on the decades-old surveys of some of the properties, which seemed to indicate that the developers did not claim to have title to the beach seaward of the crest of the dune. The claim was the only part of the case that the judge had issued a summary judgment on, leaving the bulk of two parallel lawsuits dealing with separate beach areas to be argued at trial.
Mr. Angel, the attorney for the plaintiffs, had appealed to re-argue the claim of the ownership. The judge’s change of tune after hearing the new arguments adds the issue to the list of points to be heard at an eventual trial.
Mr. Angel said he would not expect the trial in the case to begin until at least early 2016, and possibly many months later.
East Hampton Town has said it plans to condemn the beach, widely known as “Truck Beach,” in an effort to head off the homeowners’ attempts to block the four-wheel-drives from using the beach during the day in summertime.
on Jun 16, 2015