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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Supreme Court has denied rehearing in its landmark ruling that Lake Michigan’s shoreline is open to all and property owners can’t exercise exclusive control of the beach between their homes and the water.
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports the court denied Wednesday the request submitted by Don and Bobbie Gunderson of Long Beach.
The February decision sets the ordinary high water mark as the boundary between state-owned land under Lake Michigan and the interests of property owners. It also ruled that walking on the beach is a protected public use.
The Gundersons claimed the deed to their LaPorte County property showed it extending to the water’s edge, regardless of where it was at any given time.
The justices heard the case in September after the Indiana Court of Appeals similarly ruled in December 2016 that public trust rights rule along the lakeshore.
The ruling still could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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