Zedkaia v Marshalls Energy Company, Inc., et al., [2015] MHSC 4; S. Ct. Civil No. 2012-001 (13 November 2015)

IN THE SUPREME COURT
REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS

S. Ct. Civil No. 2012-001
(High Court Civil No.2006-157)

JURELANG ZEDKAIA & TOLBWIJ TORING,
Plaintiffs/Appellants

vs

MARSHALLS ENERGY COMPANY, INC., et al.,
Defendant/Appellees

Before: CADRA^[1], Chief Justice; SEABRIGHT^[2] and KURREN^[3], Acting Associate Justices.

KURREN, Acting Associate Justice:

INTRODUCTION

This case presents a dispute over land that was originally submerged below the ordinary high water mark. Plaintiffs' ancestors owned the property abutting the submerged land. In 1979, the Government began to fill the submerged land and erect structures and fuel tanks on the new land. The Government later leased the land to Defendant Marshalls Energy Company, Inc. ("MEC"), which in turn mortgaged its interest in the property. Plaintiffs brought suit in 2006 against MEC and the Government, claiming ownership over the disputed land. Specifically, Plaintiffs asserted claims for unlawful taking and trespass.

The High Court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants. The court held that (1) to the extent the disputed land. was created by the Government on submerged areas below the high water mark, the Government owns that land, and (2) to the extent the disputed land was not below the high water mark when the Government entered the land, Plaintiffs' claims are time-barred. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

The predecessors of Plaintiffs Jurelang Zedkaia and Tolbwij Taring owned land described as "LOTOLA Weto and a small island now nonexistent formerly known as UTUWE Weto, Dalap Island, Majuro Atoll [and] a small island now nonexistent, that was once a portion of the land known as LOBOTIN Weto, Dalap, Majuro Atoll." In 1975, Plaintiffs' predecessors entered into a quitclaim with the Trust Territory Government of the Pacific Islands, ^[4]4 entitled "Quitclaim New Port Development, Majuro, Marshall Islands." In the quitclaim, Plaintiffs' predecessors granted to the Government "all land within the New Port Subdivision except Lot 13' and Lot 'D' as depicted on Survey Map Number 8010/74, Dalap Island, Majuro, Marshall Island." The survey map shows the area on the lagoon side of the roadway where a port would be constructed.