Hitch et al. v. Vasarhelyi et al. 291 Ga. App. 634, 662 S.E. 2d 378 (2008)
Jun 17, 2009OUTCOME: Judgment of the trial court was reversed and the case was remanded.
Neighbors sued the State of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Coastal Resources Division of the Department, to challenge the issuance of a license to build a dock to a prope ... rty owner. The trial court dismissed the complaint for lack of standing, and the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed. The neighbors petitioned for a writ of certiorari. Client neighbors alleged that a dock extending across state-owned tidewater beds and marshlands from the owner's property would interfere with their views, hamper their ability to build a dock on their property, and diminish the value of their property. The trial court held they lacked standing to challenge the grant of the license because the owner had not yet built the dock. The high court disagreed. The neighbors did not have to wait until the dock was built before bringing suit for declaratory, injunctive, or other relief. The license gave the owner rights to build a dock; he was taking steps to implement those rights; and the neighbors showed that they would suffer special damages or injury as a consequence of the issuance of the license and the construction of the dock. These consequences were not speculative, as the intermediate appellate court held. As the neighbors established a substantial interest in the decision of the Department to grant the license to build a dock, and alleged they incurred special damage as a result of the Department's decision, they had standing the challenge the issuance of the license.
