NoFree retains ownership of valuable tract of Georgia coastal marshland after lengthy battle with state government
Client(s) No Free, LLC
After persuading both the trial and appellate courts to reconsider their initial decisions, Jones Day recently won a judgment worth over $350 million for NoFree, LLC, which was seeking to restore and preserve coastal marshland near Savannah, Georgia. The marshlands can now be used as a wetlands mitigation bank, credits from which are in high demand and are extremely valuable for economic development in coastal Georgia.
NoFree successfully quieted title in a 1,000 acre tidal marshland peninsula created by a sharp bend in the Great Ogeechee River. In Georgia, a party quieting title to marshland, unlike upland, must trace the property's entire chain of title back to the original grant of the property to a private owner by the state (or, in the colonial period, by the English Crown). The state granted NoFree's property to a private owner in 1834.
The State of Georgia opposed NoFree's quiet-title action, arguing (among other things) that the original 1834 grant was defective, that the property had reverted back to the state soon after the grant when the original owner failed to cultivate the property, and that some early links in the chain of title had become illegible in the intervening century-plus and thus could not support NoFree's title claim. The state also argued that NoFree bore the burden to rebut each of its contentions. That burden would be particularly challenging for NoFree and other private owners of marshland in Georgia because of the need to trace title back to centuries-old original grants to a private owner.
NoFree retained Jones Day after initial proceedings in the case, when the trial court announced that it would grant summary judgment to the state. But Jones Day convinced the court to reconsider its decision, and the trial court instead denied both parties' motions for summary judgment and certified the matter for discretionary immediate appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals agreed to hear NoFree's and the state's cross-appeals. Following briefing and oral argument, the Court of Appeals initially ruled for the state, with each of the three judges on the panel writing separately and no opinion garnering a majority. Two judges would have granted summary judgment for the state, but for different reasons. The third judge dissented and would have remanded for further proceedings. Jones Day moved for rehearing.
On rehearing, the panel reversed itself, with two judges agreeing that NoFree was entitled to summary judgment without a remand and one judge dissenting. The state decided not to seek certiorari review from the Georgia Supreme Court.
With its title now confirmed, NoFree plans to restore the marshland, property, which was historically used for rice farming, to its natural condition and permanently preserve it for future generations and for use as a wetlands mitigation bank.
NoFree, LLC v. 1000 Acres Marsh/Rice Known As Arnold's Point, No. SUV2020000321 (Super. Ct. Bryan Cty., Ga.); State of Georgia v. NoFree, LLC, No. A24A0969 and A24A0970 (Ga. App.)
