Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association case brief

Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association case brief summary
471 A.2d 355 (N.J. 1984)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Plaintiff, New Jersey Public Advocate, appealed a judgment of the Superior Court, Appellate Division (New Jersey), which granted summary judgment to defendant association, on a claim that defendant prevented nearby inhabitants from gaining access to the Atlantic Ocean and beachfront in the area.

FACTS

• The Bay Head Improvement Association, which was a quasi-public entity, owned portions of the beach in Bay Head, a town on the Atlantic coast. 
• Only members of the Association were allowed to use these portions of the beach during the day in the summer months. 
• Furthermore, the Association generally allowed only Bay Head residents memberships. 
• Thus, non-residents of Bay Head were generally not granted the right to use these portions of the Bay Head beach in the summer. 
• Because there were no public beaches in Bay Head, non-residents were usually prohibited from using the beach anywhere in the town of Bay Head unless they knew a private beachfront owner.

ISSUE
The issue before the court was whether, ancillary to the public's right to enjoy the tidal lands, the public had a right to gain access through and to use the dry sand area not owned by a municipality but by a quasi-public body.

DISCUSSION

• The court held the public trust doctrine did not allow the sovereign of New Jersey to abdicate its trust over the dry sand beaches to defendant association. 
• The court further stated that the public trust doctrine included bathing, swimming and other shore activities and that the public had a right to access defendant's beaches to engage in such activities. 
• Furthermore, although defendant was a private association, because it was a nonprofit corporation and its activities paralleled those of a municipality, the court was able to interfere with its internal affairs and compel it to open membership to the public at large.

CONCLUSION
Summary judgment in favor of defendant was reversed.

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