# Petition for Writ of Certiorari — Parm v. Shumate (No. 07-1289)

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Petition for Writ of Certiorari
- **Published:** January 1, 2008

## Text

Supreme Court, U.S.
FILED

0)

No. 071289 APR11 2008

OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Su The
Supreme Court of the Anited States

4

NORMAL PARM, JR., ET AL.,

Petitioners,

V.

MARK SHUMATE, in his official capacity
as Sheriff of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana,

Respondent.

On Petition For Writ Of Certiorari
To The United States Court Of Appeals
For The Fifth Circuit

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

PAUL LOY HURD*

State/Federal Bar No. 13909

Post Office Box 2190

Monroe, Louisiana 71207-2190

1899 Hudson Circle, Suite 2

Monroe, Louisiana 71201

Telephone: (318) 323-3838

Counsel for Petitioners *Counsel of Record

COCKLE LAW BAIL? PRINTING CO (800) 225-6964
OR CALL COLLECT (402) 342-2831

QUESTION PRESENTED

Does the Circuit Court’s new “Recreational Use
Exclusion” restrict the public’s right to use the navi-
gable waters of America for recreational purposes
under (i) the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Consti-
tution, (ii) the mandates of the “Equal Footing Doc-
trine” imposed upon all the states as a condition of
admittance to the Union, (iii) federal common law,
and (iv) the numerous Congressional enactments that
declare recreational use of navigable waters of Amer-
ica to be both substantial interstate “commerce”
under the Commerce Clause of the United States
Constitution, and a legitimate use and activity per-
mitted under the federal navigational servitude.

li

PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS

The Petitioners in the proceedings are Normal
Parm, Jr., Harold Eugene Watts, now deceased,
herein represented by his widow, Ms. Glenda Watts,
the duly appointed Administratrix of the Succession
of Harold Eugene Watts, Fourth Judicial District
Court, Parish of Morehouse, State of Louisiana, Roy
Michael Gammill, William T. Rogers, and Robert
Allen Balch. The Respondent is Mark W. Shumate, in
his official capacity as Sheriff of East Carroll Parish,
Louisiana.

The following persons or entities appeared as
Amici in the District Court. The Amici in support of
Petitioners were:

ROWA of Louisiana

Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association —
West Inc.

Louisiana Wildlife Federation

Louisiana State Bass Federation
Waterways Access Association (of Louisiana)
Mississippi Bass Federation Nation
Arkansas State Bass Federation

Big Sun Bass Masters of Bellview Florida
Maple Bassmaster of Florida

Blackhawk Bassmasters of Illinois

ili
PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS - Continued

Bardstown Bassmasters of Kentucky
Kentucky State Bass Federation
Minnesota State Bass Federation

River Rats Bassmasters of Minnesota
Western Maine Anglers

Yankee Bassers Bass Club of Maine
Pennsylvania Bass Federation, Inc.

The Amici in support of Respondent were:
Walker Cottonwood Farms, LLC; and

Edward Wisner Donation

lv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
PU EIEN PRG e ERE BD ois cncecccccscesccececseccosccesvess i
PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS .............0....... 8
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pe Oe Pl gs oi) ) ee vi
VO OP ORE ge ivy 8) ly yl) >. Vili
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI ............ 1
Fe EP INEPT acres saccsesaniesesercennvecestorassessvesaes 1
STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION .......000000. 2
CONSTITUTIONAL, STATUTORY AND REGU-
se GO By yo 8 9 9). 2
STATEMENT OF THE CASE...................cccccceseeees 5
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT............. 9

A. The Circuit Court Decision Substantially
Disregards Centuries-Old Federal Author-
ity By Creating a “Recreational Use Exclu-
sion” to the Public’s Right to Travel on,
Navigate and Fish the Navigable Waters of
fn RN PD Rae ne ES OMe int C0 PREVA T eee 9

B. The Circuit Court Holding Will Substan-
tially Disrupt State Law on Public Naviga-
tion for Recreational Purposes..................... 12

C. The Fishing Public and Supporting Busi-
nesses Recognize the Circuit Court’s “Rec-
reational Use Exception” to be a Substantial
Economic Threat to Commerce Surrounding
the Public’s Recreational Use of the Naviga-
ble Waters of America.....................csscccesseees 13

Vv

TABLE OF CONTENTS — Continued
Page

LEGAL ARGUMENTS THAT SUPPORT GRANT-
ee ee I tec einartipccncinrenescascnmepleccthscatinrcenssanss 14

2 i ecintnes delamcinaaill 14

B. Legal Bases of Petitioners’ Action and
Supporting Federal Rights.......................... 17

1. The Right of the Public to Navigate
and Fish Navigable Waters Is a Na-
tional Privilege Protected by the Privi-
leges or Immunities Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United
States Conmststwkioes A swale is a valley or low place; a tract of low and usually
wet land. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913). A
swale is a long, narrow, shallow, natural depression in the land.

* The western portion of Gassoway Lake is bounded by the
main levee for the Mississippi River.

App. 105

Walker Lands, including Gassoway Lake, is sub-
merged under the waters of the Mississippi River,
below the ordinary high water mark, which is 112
feet, all the way to the base of the levee. When the
Mississippi River is not at an elevated state, however,
the land and Gassoway Lake remains well above the
ordinary low water mark of the Mississippi River.’

The trial court found that, according to the 1894
map, Gassoway Lake was formed as a shallow swale.
In making such a finding, the trial court rejected the
conclusion found in a Louisiana Attorney General
Opinion® that Gassoway Lake was created as a result
of a neck cut-off; the testimony of the State’s expert,
Dr. Paul Kemp, who opined that Gassoway Lake was
created as a result of chute cut-off, as described in La.
C.C. art. 503,’ within the alluvial plain; and that the

’ This is an important fact and detrimental to the State’s
case, because, with respect to rivers and streams, the bed or
bottoms of water which the State owns in her sovereign capacity
is only the land covered by the water up to its ordinary low
water stage. See State v. Cockrell, 162 So. 2d 361 (La. App. 1st
Cir. 1964), writ refused, 246 La. 343, 164 So. 2d 350 (1964); Esso
Standard Oil Company v. Jones, 233 La. 915, 98 So. 2d 236
(1957). In this case, if the State argues that the land and
Gassoway Lake are within the bed of the Mississippi River, then
its argument that it owns Gassoway Lake must fail because it is
above the ordinary low water mark.

* See La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 96-206.
* La. C.C. art. 503 provides:

When a river or stream, whether navigable or not,
opens a new channel and surrounds riparian land
(Continued on following page)

App. 106

lake was formed out of the former Mississippi River
bed. Dr. Kemp testified that the area where Gasso- —
way Lake is located was the main channel of the
Mississippi River in 1881 and that, when tie Missis-
sippi River moved eastward, it left alluvion deposits
against the west bank of the river, with Gassoway
Lake as a feature within the alluvion build up, which
cut it off from the Mississippi River, but that it re-
mained a channel for the Mississippi River.

The trial court ultimately rendered judgment in
favor of Walker Lands, concluding that Gassoway
Lake and the drainage ditch are privately owned by
Walker Lands because the lake and ditch are not
navigable in fact; and, thus, not navigable in law. In
addition, the trial court determined that certain land
between Gassoway Lake and the Mississippi River
was not an island and was owned by Walker Lands.”
Further, the trial court found that the State has
never claimed this land in the past and cannot now
do so. Thereafter, the trial court entered a permanent
injunction enjoining the State or the general public-
at-large from going on or about Gassoway Lake, the
land between Gassoway Lake and the Mississippi
River and the drainage ditch which runs into the
lake. The State now appeals the judgment of the trial

making it an island, the ownership of that land is not

‘° Please see the attached map of the property at issue in
the appendix at the end of this opinion. This map was entered
into evidence at the trial court as Plaintiff’s Exhibit 47.

App. 107

court, raising the following assignments of error”
(verbatim):

1. The trial court erred in its adoption of
the final judgment written by Walker which
prohibits public navigation on waters of the
Mississippi and awards Island No. 1, formed
in the Mississippi, to Walker;

2. The trial court erred in disregarding all
relevant and competent evidence and in ren-
dering a judgment contrary to the law of
Louisiana and long standing public policy;

3. The trial court erred in refusing to grant
the State a suspensive appeal where all pro-
cedures were followed, and the trial court
simply nullified the request without consent
of the parties and a hearing; and

4. The trial court erred in maintaining a
TRO in effect from 1996 to present, despite
the reversal of a prior judgment by the Court
of Appeal, Second Circuit and remand to the
trial court for a full trial.

¢

DISCUSSION

It is well settled that a court of appeal should not
set aside a trial court’s finding of fact in the absence
of manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong. Stobart
v. State through Dept. of Transp. & Development, 617

'' The State makes more specific arguments in its brief.

App. 108

So. 2d 880 (La. 1993). The reviewing court must do
more than just simply review the record for some
evidence which supports or controverts the trial
court’s findings; it must, instead, review the record in
its entirety to determine whether the trial court’s
finding was clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous.
Id. The issue to be resolved by a reviewing court is
not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but
whether the fact finder’s conclusion was a reasonable
one. Cosse v. Allen-Bradley Co., 601 So. 2d 1349 (La.
1992). If the trial court’s findings are reasonable in
light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of
appeal may not reverse, even if convinced that, had it
been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed
the evidence differently. Housley v. Cerise, 579 So. 2d
973 (La. 1991) (quoting Sistler v. Liberty Mutual Ins.
Co., 558 So. 2d 1106 (La. 1990)).

The State asserts that the evidence at trial
showed that Gassoway Lake was created out of the
former bed of the Mississippi River, it remains navi-
gable and connected to the Mississippi River as a
channel and is public water under the law. Further,
the State contends that, when Gassoway Lake is
below the ordinary high water of the Mississippi
River, it is burdened by a navigation servitude, levee
servitude and the public use. The State also charges
that the trial court’s judgment is overly broad.

App. 109

Creation of Gassoway Lake

The central issue involved in this case is the
creation of Gassoway Lake and the effect of the
movement of the Mississippi River. La. C.C. art. 499
provides:

Accretion formed successively and impercep-
tibly on the bank of a river or stream,
whether navigable or not, is called alluvion.
The alluvion” belongs to the owner of the
bank, who is bound to leave public that por-
tion of the bank which is required for public
use.

The same rule applies to dereliction formed by
water receding imperceptibly from a bank of a river
or stream. The owner of the land situated at the edge
of the bank left dry owns the dereliction.

Any alluvion and/or dereliction which forms
along the banks of a river belongs to the riparian
landowners, who own the land adjacent to the river,
when the river shifts course. Nevels v. State, 95-0100
(La. App. 1st Cir. 11/9/95), 665 So. 2d 26; Davis Oil

* Alluvion may be defined as an addition to riparian land,
gradual and imperceptible, made by the water to which the land
is contiguous. The test as to what is gradual and imperceptible
in the sense of the rule is that, though the witnesses may see
from time to time that progress has been made, they could not
perceive it while the process was going on. Whether it is the
effect of natural or artificial causes makes no difference. The
result as to the ownership in either case is the same. Esso
Standard Oil Company, supra.

App. 110

Company v. Citrus Land Company, 576 So. 2d 495
(La. 1991). Moreover, La. C.C. art. 504 provides:

When a navigable river or stream abandons
its bed and opens a new one, the owners of
the land on which the new bed is located
shall take by way of indemnification the
abandoned bed, each in proportion to the
quantity of land that he lost.

If the river returns to the old bed, each shall
take his former land.

At trial, it was established that Walker Lands’
predecessors-in-title were the riparian landowners of
the property that sat at the bank of the Mississippi
River when it changed course sometime after 1880
and began shifting back eastward, leaving behind dry
land and standing water in a shallow swale in the
land, what is now Gassoway Lake. Walker Lands’
predecessors-in-title began to acquire, through allu-
vion,” new land that was created, when the Missis-
sippi River shifted east. Dr. Kesel explained that
Gassoway Lake was part of this creation of new land

as the Mississippi River shifted eastward.

'’ Alluvion and accretion are terms used synonymously.
Accretion is defined as the act of growing to a thing; usually
applied to the gradual and imperceptible accumulation of land
by natural causes, as out of the sea or river. Black’s Law Dic-
tionary 20 (6th ed. 1990). Accretion is the addition of portions of
soil, by gradual deposition through the operation of natural
causes, to that already in possession of owner. The term alluvion
is applied to the deposit itself, while accretion denotes the act.

App. 111

Gassoway Lake and surrounding lands between
the lake and the river are sometimes flooded by the
Mississippi River. Privately owned land does not
become part of a navigable body of water when a
nearby navigable body of water overflows its normal
bed and temporarily covers the property. Edmiston v.
Wood, 566 So. 2d 673 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1990); Buck-
skin Hunting Club v. Bayard, 03-1428 (La. App. 3d
Cir. 3/3/04), 868 So. 2d 266, 2004 La.App. LEXIS 431,
2004 WL 385387. Gassoway Lake is landlocked and
does not now lie in the bed of the Mississippi River,
which is some three and one-half miles to the east;
likewise, it is not a channel of the river, since it is cut
off from it. Further, since Gassoway Lake is not a
channel of the Mississippi River, the dry land be-
tween it and the Mississippi River is not an island, as
claimed by the State. When the land that is now
Gassoway Lake sat in the bed of the Mississippi
River, the river bed was owned by the State as the
bed of the Mississippi River and not as the bed of a
separate navigable lake. The land and the lake,
however, no longer sit in the bed of the Mississippi
River.

We find that the land surrounding Gassoway
Lake was formed through accretion/alluvion as the
Mississippi River shifted course. Gassoway Lake
formed due to water left behind in a swale in the land
when the river shifted eastward. We note that the
depth of the lake has not changed since its formation.
This evidence supports the conclusion that the lake
was formed in a swale and not through a chute or

App. 112

neck cut-off. Applying La. C.C. art. 499 to the facts in
the instant case, we further find that, as owners of
the bank of the Mississippi River, Walker Lands’
predecessors-in-title gained ownership of not only the
newly formed dry land, but also the lake itself. The
trial court heard the testimony of both Dr. Kesel and
Dr. Kemp and found Dr. Kesel’s theory of the shift in
the Mississippi River and creation of Gassoway Lake
to be more credible. After reviewing the evidence in
its entirety, we find that the trial court’s conclusion
was a reasonable one. The trial court did not commit
manifest error, nor was it clearly wrong in determin-
ing the manner in which Gassoway Lake was created.

Navigability and Ownership of Gassoway Lake

First, we note that the State cannot claim owner-
ship of Gassoway Lake by basing its argument on La.
R.S. 9:1101, as it asserts in its brief. La. R.S. 9:1101
provides, in pertinent part, that “The waters of all
bayous, rivers, streams, lagoons, lakes and bays and
the beds thereof, not under the direct ownership of
any persons on August 12, 1910, are declared to be
the property of the state.” Walker Lands proved at
trial that its predecessors-in-title owned the land
encompassing Gassoway Lake on August 12, 1910.
We find no merit in the State’s argument in this
regard. We also find no merit in the argument that the
State owns Gassoway Lake because the State owns all
bodies of water that were within its territory when it
was admitted into the Union in 1812. Gassoway Lake

App. 113

did not exist in 1812; and, corsequently, this law
would not apply.

Since the State only owns navigable bodies of
water, it argues that Gassoway Lake and the drain-
age ditch are navigable. “Non-navigable lakes are
private things. Accordingly, they may belong to... a
private person.” La. C.C. art. 506 cmt. c. A body of
water is navigable in law if it is navigable in fact.
Ramsey River Road Property Owners Association, Inc.
vu. Reeves, 396 So. 2d 873 (La. 1981). A body of water
is navigable in fact if it is capable of being used for a
commercial purpose over which trade and travel are
or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade
and travel. Id.

Non-navigable lakes are subject to the law gov-
erning dry lands. See La. C.C. art. 506 cmt. d. La.
R.S. 9:1115.2 provides:

A. Inland non-navigable water bodies are
those which are not navigable in fact and are
not sea, arms of the sea, or seashore.

B. Inland non-navigable water beds or bot-
toms are private things and may be owned
by private persons or by the state and its po-
litical subdivisions in their capacity as pri-
vate persons.

Whether or not Gassoway Lake and the drainage
ditch are navigable as they normally sit when they
are not flooded by the Mississippi River depends on
whether they are used in commerce. The trial court
found that Gassoway Lake and the drainage ditch

App. 114

were not navigable and we find no manifest error in
that conclusion. At trial, the State attempted to prove
that Gassoway Lake and the drainage ditch can be
used for commercial purposes. The trial judge prop-
erly rejected this argument.

A body of water not connected to a navigable
body of water and surrounded by land can serve no
useful commercial purpose. Fitzsimmons v. Cassity,
172 So. 824 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1937). In Fitzsimmons, a
shift in the Red River caused a shallow body of water
to be left behind. This body of water had no connec-
tion with the Red River. The court found that the
body of water “partakes more of a character of a
shallow lake than it does a navigable stream” and it
was owned by the private landowner and not the
State.

In the case sub judice, the State argued that the
rental of boats for fishing and other recreational
purposes on Gassoway Lake was enough to find that
the lake was being used for a commercial purpose to
support navigability. Further, the State argued that
the drainage ditch was navigable in fact. Recreational
use of a body of water alone is not enough to say that
the body of water is being used for a commercial
purpose. Gassoway Lake is a non-navigable body of
water that is owned by a private entity. It is a private
thing. Moreover, the evidence in the record supports
the conclusion that the drainage ditch remains com-
pletely dry for most of the year, making it unusable.
The drainage ditch also cannot be used for a commer-
cial purpose and it is a private thing. The trial court

App. 115

did not commit manifest error and was not clearly
wrong in finding that Gassoway Lake and the drain-
age ditch are not navigable bodies of water. Along
with the land at issue before the trial court, Gasso-
way Lake and the drainage ditch are owned by
Walker Lands and not the State.

Injunction

First, the State argues that the judgment is
overly broad because it enjoins use of the Mississippi
River. We do not agree. We have reviewed the specific
language of the injunction and find that it does not
enjoin use of the Mississippi River, which is obviously
a public body of water and no one can prevent boaters
from navigating it; however, the permanent injunc-
tion must fail on other grounds.

Al‘hhough the issue of standing has not been
’aised on appeal, we must consider this issue since it
is fundamental to the granting of relief, such as the
issuance of an injunction. Louisiana Dept. of Agricul-
ture and Forestry v. Louisiana State Licensing Board
for Contractors, 36,694 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1/29/03), 837
So. 2d 726. Justiciable controversy has been defined as:

“faJn actual and substantial dispute, as dis-
tinguished from one that is merely hypo-
thetical or abstract, and a dispute which
invoives the legal relation of the parties who
have real adverse interests, and upon which
the judgment of the court may effectively op-
erate through a decree of conclusive charac-
ter. Further, the plaintiff should have a

App. 116

legally protectable and tangible interest at
stake, and the dispute presented should be of
sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant
the isstance of a declaratory judgment.”
Atchafalaya Basin Levee District v. Pecquet,
364 So.2d 610 (La. App. 1st Cir. 1978).

A justiciable controversy is shown if there is a
genuine controversy between a plaintiff and a defen-
dant as to legal rights requiring a judicial determina-
tion. Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry,
supra.

In addition, under La: C.C.P. art. 3611, enforce-
ment of an injunction is punishable as a “contempt of
court.” Such a contempt judgment, however, may only
be obtained against the party/defendant against
whom the action for injunction was brought.

In the case sub judice, Walker Lands and the
State were the only parties involved in this lawsuit at
trial and no other persons or private entities were
involved; however, the trial judge issued a permanent
injunction against not only the State’s use of the
property, but also the public’s-at-large use of the
property. The trial judge ordered, adjudged and
decreed, in pertinent part, that:

[T]he State of Louisiana, and its subdivisions
or agencies, and any employee, juror, or
agent thereof, and all other persons, includ-
ing members of the public, (all these persons
coliectively “Persons”), be and are hereby
permanently enjoined from entering upon
the Property ... , which Property includes

App. 117

all lands ... and the bed, bottoms and wa-
ters of Gassoway Lake ... whether or not
any of the lands or water bodies on the Prop-
erty are inundated by flood waters from the
Mississippi River or any other water body,
for any purpose whatsoever,... .

All said Persons are further permanently en-
joined from a) engaging in any conduct or ac-
tivity which directly or indirectly encourages
or permits other Persons, including members
of the general public, to enter upon the Frop-
erty described above, without Walker’s or its
successors-in-title express prior authoriza-
tion; and b) from using such Property or au-
thorizing, causing or encouraging anyone,
other than Walker or its successors-in-title
and their agents, invitees and licensees from
using the Property, including the bed, bot-
toms and waters of Gassoway lake and the
water body, (whether called a ditch, bayou, or
outlet channel or otherwise) ... for any pur-
pose whatsoever,....

All said Persons are further permanently en-
joined from using any portion of the Prop-
erty, including the lands and any bed,
bottoms and waters of any water bodies
thereon, for any purpose whatsoever, unless
they have express prior authorization of
Walker or its successors-in-title.

Walker Lands cannot be given relief against a
hypothetical public-at-large. It cannot have an in-
junction enforced against every individual person in
the state when there is no actual dispute against

App. 118

every individual person in the state. There is no
genuine controversy between Walker Lands and
every person in the State of Louisiana. After thorough
research, we found no law or jurisprudence in this
State that supports the conclusion that an entire
hypothetical public-at-large can be enjoined by a
court from doing an act.

Further, we find that there is no direct evidence
in the record of any direct violation by State officials
or departments of the State attempting to invade
Walker Lands’ property; and, therefore, there is no
justiciable controversy between Walker Lands and
the State that would warrant an injunction being
issued against the State. Simply put, there is no
genuine controversy between Walker Lands and the
State over the issue of injunctive relief. Walker Lands
does, however, have a right to prevent its private
property from being exploited. It has the same rights
as all other owners of private property against a
person or entity who invades its land and that is to
enforce its rights as a private landowner through use
of the trespass statutes, to seek specific damages
against a person or entity or to ask for an injunction
against a specific person or entity, but only at the
time that the person or entity invades its land.”
Owners of private property may forbid entry to any-
one for purposes of hunting or fishing and the like.

‘“ For example, see Cenac v. Public Access Water Rights
Association, 02-2660 (La. 6/27/03), 851 So. 2d 1006; Buckskin
Hunting Club, supra.

App. 119

La. C.C. art. 3413. We hereby reverse the permanent
injunction issued by the trial court.

Public Use Servitude

Finally, in support of its argument for ownership,
the State raised the issue of the existence of legal
public servitudes under La. C.C. art. 665" in favor of
itself and the general public for the utility of the
Mississippi River banks at times of high water and
for levee maintenance purposes. The Civil Code’s
definition of the bank of a navigable river is the land
lying between the ordinary low and the ordinal high
stage of the water. See La. C.C. art. 456. The State,
however, has not presented a justiciable controversy
in this case showing that the State, through its
agents in its propriety capacity, seeks to utilize any
rights to these public servitudes. We likewise, there-
fore, pretermit discussion of the available use of these
legal public servitudes during times of high water.”

’° La. C.C. art. 665 provides:

Servitudes imposed for the public or common utility,
relate to the space which is to be left for the public use
by the adjacent proprietors on the shores of navigable
rivers, and for the making and repairing of levees,
roads and other public or common works.

All that relates to this kind of servitude is determined by laws or
particular regulations.

' We do note that the jurisprudence in our state has long
held that the public use servitude means that the public may
use the bank of a river only for a navigational purpose. See La.
C.C. art. 456 cmt. b; Ward v. Board of Levee Com’rs of Orleans

(Continued on following page)

App. 120

Devolutive Appeal and Temporary Restraining Order

The State also argues that the trial judge unilat-
erally converted its motion for a suspensive appeal
into a devolutive appeal. Further, the State asserts
that the temporary restraining order (TRO) put into
effect by the trial judge in the first decision in this
case, which was later reversed by this court, shouid
not have stayed in effect after the reversal.

First, we will address the devolutive appeal. A
trial judge has discretion to issue a devolutive appeal.
See La. C.C.P. art. 3612. In the instant case, the State
requested a suspensive appeal, or in the alternative,
a devolutive appeal. When the State submitted a
draft order for the trial judge to sign, however, it
mentioned only a suspensive appeal in the draft
order. The trial judge marked out the word suspen-
sive and wrote in devolutive, using the discretion
allowed to him under our code of civil procedure. We
find no merit to the State’s third assignment of error.

Finally, the State claims that the TRO should not
have remained in effect after the original decision
was reversed by our court. In reviewing the record,

Levee District, 152 La. 158, 92 So. 769 (1922), cert. denied, 260
U.S. 745, 43 S. Ct. 246, 67 L. Ed. 492 (1923); Jefferson Parish v.
Universal Fleeting Company, 234 So. 2d 88 (La. App. 4th Cir.
1970). Fishing and hunting on flooded lands do not meet the
definition of using the bank of a river at its high water mark for
a navigational purpose. See State v. Barras, 615 So. 2d 285 (La.
1993): Warner v. Clarke, 232 So. 2d 99 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1970),
writ refused, 255 La. 918, 233 So. 2d 565 (1970).

App. 121

we found that the parties had agreed to maintain the
TRO until the trial court rendered a decision over the
merits of the permanent injunction. Likewise, we find
no merit in the State’s final assignment of error.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the
trial court is affirmed as to the ruling that Gassoway
Lake and its surrounding lands are owned by Walker
Lands. The judgment of the trial court is reversed as
to the permanent injunction. Costs of this appeal
shall be divided equally between the parties. The
total cost of this appeal was $167.50, of which half
shall be assessed against the State of Louisiana
through the Department of Justice, pursuant to La.
R.S. 13:5112. The matter is remanded to the trial
court for the calculation of trial court costs to be
assessed equally against the parties.

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART
AND REMANDED.

App. 122

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App. 123

U.S. Geological Survey Map
MILLIKIN QUADRANGLE
Louisiana-Mississippi
7.5 Minute Series (Topographic)

(East Carroll Parish, Louisiana)

[Map Found In Pocket On Inside Back Cover]

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40386020_1350%3A1. Public record. Not legal advice.
