State v. Hatchie Coon Hunting & Fishing Club, Inc.

254 S.W.3d 11, 98 Ark. App. 206, 2007 Ark. App. LEXIS 210
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 21, 2007
DocketCA 06-797
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 254 S.W.3d 11 (State v. Hatchie Coon Hunting & Fishing Club, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hatchie Coon Hunting & Fishing Club, Inc., 254 S.W.3d 11, 98 Ark. App. 206, 2007 Ark. App. LEXIS 210 (Ark. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

Wendell L. Griffen, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order determining ownership of a forty-six acre island that lies in the St. Francis River in Poinsett County, Arkansas. The property, part of the St. Francis Sunken Lands near Marked Tree, is situated between the eastern and western shores of the river and was part of a 700-acre tract of land that appellee, Hatchie Coon Hunting and Fishing Club, purchased by patent in 1892 from appellant, the State of Arkansas.1 The Club’s land on the east and west sides of the St. Francis River is riparian; because the river itself was not included in the conveyance, the conveyance was fractional. After a bench trial, the trial court determined that Hatchie Coon owned the island.

We affirm the trial court’s order because the evidence supports that the island was created by accretion to and avulsion from the Club’s riparian property, because title to the Club’s 700 acres was quieted in the Club in 1919, and because the State failed to prove its affirmative offenses of adverse possession and laches. Additionally, we affirm the trial court’s decision to permit attorney Scott May to testify on Hatchie Coon’s behalf. Even though May served as counsel for the Club and prosecuted part of this case, he did not testify in any proceeding in which he served as counsel.

I. Factual Background

The subject property is an island located between Hatchie Coon’s riparian property in sections 28 and 33 of Township 12 North, Range 6 West, in Poinsett County.2 The property that was granted to Hatchie Coon in the 1892 patent was originally surveyed by the Government Land Office (GLO) in 1849; this survey did not show the island. The GLO surveyed the land again in 1911 and 1920. The 1911 surveyor noted the presence of a small island located where the subject property lies that was densely populated by willow trees, but the surveyor did not indicate how large the island was or include it on the survey. The 1920 survey was conducted in response to a 1919 federal lawsuit to reconcile the property description in the 1892 patent with the 1911 survey, but the 1920 survey did not show the island. The subject property did not appear on any surveys until 1932.

In 1940, a federal-condemnation order was entered authorizing the construction of levees and flood-control measures in the Sunken Lands. This order also granted flowage easements for lands that would be left unprotected by the floodway. (A flowage easement allows the government to run water over private property.) The property conveyed in the 1892 patent was unprotected and thus, is subject to a flowage easement pursuant to the 1940 order.

Subsequently, pursuant to a federal law, the United States Army Corps of Engineers implemented a series of flood-control measures in part of the Sunken Lands, including levees, siphons, and gated structures that have operated since 1976. The flood-control structures are maintained by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). Through these structures, the AGFC has since the 1980s artificially maintained the water level of the St. Francis Lake and the St. Francis River, including the Club’s property, at 210 feet mean sea level (MSL), except during duck-hunting season, when the water level is maintained at 212 feet. Without flood-control measures, the water level would normally be 208 feet MSL, which would mean that the forty-six acre island would be above the ordinary high-water mark.

Although the Club knew that nonmembers were using the subject property for at least twenty-five years, it did not file suit in the instant case until 2001, when it sued three duck hunters who were operating duck blinds on its property. The State of Arkansas declined to voluntarily join the case on the ground that no state agency had an interest in the property; however, at the respective defendants’ requests, the State was ultimately joined as a necessary party to the case.3

A bench trial was held on August 22-24 and 29-31, 2005. The trial judge heard from numerous witnesses who testified regarding whether the St. Francis River was navigable, the placement of the ordinary high-water mark and historical high-water mark on the subject property, whether the subject property was formed by accretion and avulsion, whether the 1919 lawsuit quieted title to the property in Hatchie Coon, and whether the State proved its affirmative defenses of adverse possession and laches. Another issue was whether Scott Mays, an attorney and Club member who had prosecuted part of the case for the Club, should be allowed to testify. In short, the trial court allowed Mays to testify and further determined that the island belonged to Hatchie Coon. The relevant testimony and other evidence will be discussed further herein as they relate to the trial court’s respective findings.

II. Creation by Accretion

Although the State raises several issues on appeal, the first issue we address is how the property was created. Under Arkansas law, a riparian property owner gains title to accretions to his land, formed or made prior to or after the conveyance, even though the property is not mentioned in the deed of conveyance. See Crow v. Johnston, 209 Ark. 1053, 194 S.W.2d 193 (1946) (emphasis added). When a stream changes its course by accretion, the boundaries of a riparian owner’s land change with the stream (thus, the owner retains title to the accreted land). Id; see also Goforth v. Wilson, 208 Ark. 35, 184 S.W.2d 814 (1945).

Thus, here, if the island was created by accretion to the Club’s riparian property, then the Club owns the property above the high-water mark; if the island was created by accretion to the river bed, then the State owns the property. See Arkansas River Rights Comm. v. Echubby Lake, 83 Ark. App. 276, 126 S.W.3d 738 (2003).4

A trial judge’s findings of fact will be affirmed on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous or clearly against the preponderance of the evidence, and this court shall give due regard to the trial court’s opportunity to judge the credibility of the witnesses. See Ark. R. Civ. P. 52(a). A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Chavers v. Epsco, Inc., 352 Ark. 65, 98 S.W.3d 421 (2003). Disputed facts are within the province of the fact-finder. Id. We hold that the trial court did not err in finding that the island in this case belongs to Hatchie Coon because it was created by accretion to and avulsion from the Club’s riparian property.

The State first argues that the Club failed to prove ownership by accretion because it failed to prove that the island was connected to its riparian land during the Club’s record ownership. We do not agree. First, the Club’s claim would not be defeated because it could not establish that the accretion occurred during its record ownership. The State cites to only one case, Crow v.

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State v. Hatchie Coon Hunting & Fishing Club, Inc.
254 S.W.3d 11 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
254 S.W.3d 11, 98 Ark. App. 206, 2007 Ark. App. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hatchie-coon-hunting-fishing-club-inc-arkctapp-2007.