Severance v. Patterson
Supreme Court of Texas
370 S.W. 3d 705 (2012)
Carol Severance (plaintiff) bought a beachfront home on Galveston Island in 2005, at which point an existing public easement covered only the portion of beach seaward of the vegetation line, with no easement inland of that line where her home stood; months later, Hurricane Rita dramatically shifted the vegetation line inland, leaving Severance's home seaward of the new line, and the State of Texas (defendant) claimed the easement now covered her home under the Open Beaches Act. Severance sued in federal court, and the Texas Supreme Court was asked to determine whether Texas law recognizes a 'rolling' easement that automatically shifts with such sudden changes.
Whether, although a public beachfront easement is dynamic to accommodate the beach's everyday movement and gradual erosion and accretion, the easement automatically extends to new land when the land originally encumbered suddenly washes away.