Town Sees 'Victory' In Montauk Waterfront Erosion Suit: Supe

MONTAUK, NY — After years of litigation, it was a "victory" for East Hampton after a federal court dismissed a lawsuit by Montauk waterfront property owners over erosion they said was related to Lake Montauk Harbor's federal jetties, the town said in a release.

Judge Joanna Seybert of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Friday granted the town’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Cangemi et al. v. Town of East Hampton, after years of litigation and a June, 2018 jury trial and verdict against the town, the release said.

Property owners along Soundview Drive and Captain Kidd’s Path in Montauk alleged that the Lake Montauk Harbor jetties stabilizing the inlet exacerbated erosion to their properties west of the jetties, and that the damage was the town's responsibility, the release added.

Seybert also overruled a nearly $356,000 jury verdict against the town and eliminated the possibility that she would consider requiring the town to undertake a court-imposed beach remediation project demanded by the plaintiffs, town officials added.

Seybert, the town said, agreed that the East Hampton Town does not control the jetties, which were built by private interests in 1926 and subsequently became a Federal Navigation Project under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1945.

Although the town took ownership of the jetties to facilitate the federal takeover, Seybert, the town said, found that East Hampton had no control over them, and that “the Army Corps considered the jetties and the channel to be a federal responsibility with federal responses required to solve the erosion problems.” She also found “the pace of the federal studies and response (or lack thereof) was not something the town could control,” town officials said.

And, East Hampton officials added, since the town had no control over the jetties or the inlet, the court found “it is not responsible for fixing a problem it did not cause, approve, or exacerbate.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2010 by the owners of 11 houses who sought more than $25 million for damages to their properties and to force the town to undertake the beach restoration project with an estimated price tag of $20 million, the town said.

In addition to the town, the plaintiffs initially sued the Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, but they subsequently discontinued their claims against the DEC, and the court dismissed the claims against the Army Corps before trial, the town said in the release.

Following a four-week trial in June, 2018, at which East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, along with town staff, testified, the jury cleared the town of liability for public nuisance, but found it responsible for private nuisance and trespass caused by jetty-induced erosion. It awarded $355,961.27 in damages to seven of the homeowners, the town said.

Following the trial, the town moved for judgment in its favor notwithstanding the verdict.

The town was represented by Steven C. Stern of Sokoloff Stern LLP in Carle Place.

“We have argued since the outset of the case that the town is not responsible for the jetties, which are exclusively controlled by the United States government," Stern said. "We are pleased the evidence at trial convinced the court that the Town of East Hampton is not liable as a matter of law. It is most certainly the correct decision.”

Stern said he expected the court to enter judgment in the town’s favor this week.

In a separate matter, the town board last week retained Sokoloff Stern to review all matters of litigation regarding Sunrise Tuthill, LLC — Duryea’s — in Montauk, the town said.

Van Scoyoc commented on the court's decision: “This is a big victory for the taxpayers of the Town of East Hampton, who should not have to foot the bill to rebuild private property. While the town sympathizes with the many property owners throughout the town whose homes and businesses are subject to the wrath of Mother Nature, this coastline was highly erosive and largely bulkheaded long before the plaintiffs purchased their waterfront houses. The jetties, which were built by Carl Fisher in the 1920s, are critical to maintain the inlet for the U.S. Coast Guard, as a harbor of refuge for large vessels, and to sustain the largest fishing harbor in the State of New York. To suggest they are a nuisance is to undermine their profound importance to our community.”

A request for comment from the attorneys for the plaintiffs was not immediately returned.