Friends of Martin's Beach v. Martin's Beach 1 LLC

201 Cal.Rptr.3d 516

FRIENDS OF MARTIN’S BEACH, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.MARTIN’S BEACH 1 LLC et al., Defendants and Respondents.

A142035

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Filed April 27, 2016

Redenbacher & Brown, Gary Redenbacher, Santa Cruz, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, John A. Saurenman, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christiana Tiedemann, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Joseph C. Rusconi, Deputy Attorney General; Kimberly Anne Marlow, Redwood City, Office of San Mateo County Counsel for California State Lands Commission and California Coastal Commission as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Surfrider Foundation, Angela T. Howe ; Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, William J. White, San Francisco, for Surfrider Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Hopkins & Carley, Joan R. Gallo, Jeffrey E. Essner, Allonn E. Levy, Dori L. Yob, San Jose, for Defendants and Respondents.

Pacific Legal Foundation, J. David Breemer and Christopher M. Kieser, Sacramento, for Pacific Legal Foundation, California Farm Bureau, and California Cattlemen's Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

STEWART, J.

At issue in this case is a dispute between the public and property owners over the use of a road, parking area and the inland dry sand of a popular beach. There is no disagreement about defendants' ownership of these areas or the property of which they are a part. Rather, the public rights claimed by plaintiff are predicated on two theories. The first is that a provision of the California Constitution confers on the public a right of access over private property to the tidelands. The second is that under the common law of dedication the defendants' predecessors—who owned the property from early in the 20th century until defendants purchased it in 2008—through their words and acts offered to dedicate the road, parking area and inland sand to public use over a period of decades, and the public accepted that offer by using those parts of the property. In this appeal, plaintiff challenges the trial court's grant of summary adjudication to defendants on plaintiff's claims asserting these theories and on defendants' counterclaims seeking to refute them.

The case presents a number of intriguing issues, among them the meaning of Article X, section 4 of the California Constitution and its application, if any, to lands for which title is derived from a provisional Mexican land grant confirmed by a federal patent issued in the 19th century. These issues require consideration of a federal statute known as the Act of 1851 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which that Act implemented. The case also concerns the common law theory of dedication of land to public use and what facts suffice to establish the elements of such a claim. Creating yet additional interest, the State of California and its agencies contend in an amicus brief that they were indispensable parties to this action because it involves California tidelands and that the judgment rendered without them is void.

For the reasons that follow, we affirm for the most part the trial court's grant of defendants' summary adjudication motion rejecting plaintiff's constitutional theory, which presents only issues of law. However, we reverse its grant of summary adjudication on the claims alleging dedication, because the record is insufficient to establish there was no dedication as a matter of law. We also reverse its grant of summary judgment to the LLCs on their cross-complaint and reverse its grant of summary adjudication to the LLCs on Friends' constitutional claims to the extent that part of the order purports to quiet title to tidelands and submerged lands, and order the trial court on remand to modify that part of its order to delete any reference to quieting title to tidelands and submerged lands. Finally, we reject the State Amici's claim that they are indispensable parties and that the trial court decision is therefore void.

BACKGROUND¹

This appeal concerns land that fronts on California's Pacific coast, a few miles south of the City of Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County. The land consists of two parcels bounded on the east by Highway 1 and on the west by the Pacific Ocean (the Property). At the western edge of the Property is a crescent-shaped strip of land known as Martin's Beach. Martin's Beach is bounded to the north and south by high cliffs that extend into the water. Other than by water, the only means of access to Martin's Beach is via Martin's Beach Road (the road), which runs across the Property from Highway 1 to the beach.

The Property was once part of a larger tract of land known as the Rancho Cañada de Verde y Arroyo de la Purísima (the Rancho). In 1838, when what is now California was still part of Mexico, the Rancho was the subject of a petition by José María Alviso (José María), a Mexican citizen, to the then-Governor of California for a grant of the land and permission to occupy it. ( United States v. Alviso (1859) 64 U.S. 23 How. 318, 319, 16 L.Ed. 456 ( Alviso ).) The Governor provisionally granted the Rancho to José María, and in 1839 the prefect of the district agreed to reserve the land for José María and permitted him to occupy it. ( Id .) In 1840, José María conveyed his interest in the Rancho to his brother, José Antonio Alviso (Alviso). ( Id . ) Alviso proceeded to improve and cultivate the land and to reside on it with his family. ( Id . ) The grant apparently was not finalized by the time war broke out between Mexico and the United States in 1848. (See id . )

To end the war later that year, the United States and Mexico entered into the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which provided that in the territories Mexico ceded to the United States, including what is now California, "property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected." (Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, art. VIII, Feb. 2, 1848, 9 Stat. 922 (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo or the Treaty).) In 1851, Congress passed legislation to implement the Treaty and settle claims to land based on Spanish and Mexican grants. The Act of 1851 required parties making such claims to submit evidence to a Board of Land Commissioners (the Board) within two years. (See Act of March 3, 1851, ch. 41, 9 Stat. 631, 31st Sess., ch. XLI, §§ 1, 8 (1851 Act); Summa Corp. ex rel. Lands Comm'n v. California (1984) 466 U.S. 198, 206, 104 S.Ct. 1751, 80 L.Ed.2d 237 ( Summa ).) The Board in the first instance, and if its decision was appealed, the federal courts, would resolve disputes between the United States and any claimant. (1851 Act, § 15.) Claims that were confirmed resulted in a federal patent (id . § 13), which is the equivalent of a deed from the federal government conveying fee simple ownership. ( 73B C.J.S., Public Lands, § 235, p. 198 (2015).)

Pursuant to the 1851 Act, Alviso timely filed a patent claim for the Rancho, which was confirmed by the Board. On appeal by the United States, the district court and ultimately the United States Supreme Court confirmed Alviso's claim. (See Alviso, supra, 64 U.S. 318.) Thereafter, the Rancho was surveyed, and the government issued a patent to Alviso.

Over time, the Rancho was divided into smaller parcels and conveyed to various persons. Among them were members of the Deeney family, who acquired the Property in a series of transactions, the first of which was in 1899. In about 2008, R.M. Deeney sold the Property to Martin's Beach 1, LLC and Martin's Beach 2, LCC (LLCs).

According to plaintiff, before the LLCs purchased the Property, the road and the beach for decades had been open to and used by the public, who picnicked, barbequed, fished, surfed and otherwise enjoyed the beach. From the 1930s or earlier, the Deeney family or their lessees had encouraged the public to use the road and Martin's Beach. They erected a billboard on the nearby highway inviting the public to use the beach and provided a general store, public toilets and a parking area at or near the beach. For some of that time—though for how long and for what purpose are not evident—they charged a fee.

Initially, the LLCs continued to allow the public to use the road, the parking area and the beach, charging a fee. In the fall of 2009, the LLCs locked a gate barring the entrance to the road, placed "No Trespassing" signs there and hired security in an effort to prevent the public from using the road or the beach. There was a hue and cry from surfers and other persons who had used the beach over the years, and they staged rallies, generated press coverage and used social media in an effort to persuade the LLCs to reverse course. The LLCs declined the invitation, and this suit followed.

Plaintiff, Friends of Martin's Beach (Friends), an unincorporated association, filed a complaint² against the LLCs "on behalf of the general public," asserting "nonexclusive rights and interests acquired by the general public in the beach to high tide at Martin's Beach, the dry sand inland, an inland area historically used for parking and access along Martin's Beach Road." Friends sought injunctive and declaratory relief and a judgment quieting title based on four theories: (1) the public trust doctrine guarantees the general public the right to use the tidelands and gain access to them via Martin's Beach Road (public trust theory), (2) California Constitution Article X, section 4 (Article X, section 4 ) prohibits owners of lands fronting navigable waters from excluding the right of way to such waters and entitles the public to an easement over the road and inland dry sand to access the tidelands (constitutional theory), (3) the LLCs' predecessors offered, by words and actions, to dedicate to the public access to the tidelands via Martin's Beach Road, use of the inland dry sand and parking area,...