Lemmon Fellow Researches Property Rights on Louisiana's Eroding Coast

The familiar image of Louisiana as a neat, sturdy boot is more of a geographic memory than a current reality. As the state loses more than a football field of land every 100 minutes, the heel and the toe have frayed into a ragged, water-logged lace, and a critical question arises: when coastal land permanently sinks, who actually owns it?

That’s the question that Amina Habib, JD ‘28, spent her summer exploring as a Lemmon Environmental Law Fellow.

The Lemmon Fellowship offers students an intensive, six-week summer internship focused on high-level law and policy research in service of the community. The fellowship is funded by the generosity of alumnus Andrew Lemmon, JD ‘87, and his wife Joan.

This summer, Habib spent time investigating how Louisiana's property laws hold up against rapid coastal erosion.

"This issue is not very well explored," she said. "I'm surprised at the lack of cases and the difficulty in researching this issue, because it seems that it should be well documented when we are losing so much land."

Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 450, the land at the bottom of all natural, navigable water bodies belongs to the state. When erosion creates more navigable water on once-private property, a property owner’s title automatically transfers to the state. Because this shift occurs through natural processes, Louisiana courts typically consider the issue a legal reclassification rather than a formal seizure, meaning that the state does not owe landowners compensation for the lost land.

Through her analysis of case law and interviews with coastal residents and officials, Habib learned that the state rarely claims submerged land unless it holds immediate commercial or strategic value, such as shipping channels, oil leases, or deepwater ports. 

"To track all of this in real-time as the coast dissolves would take massive resources, so the state…only steps in and asserts ownership when the land is strategically or commercially vital," Habib explained.

However, because the land currently being submerged primarily belongs to small, isolated communities, the state does not prioritize tracking or litigating those boundaries. With no one from the state tracking where the land once was or now is, those who live and work in these rapidly shrinking areas are confused by the unclear legal processes.

During her fieldwork, Habib interviewed parish assessors and surveyors who admitted they have no clear instructions on how to handle underwater parcels on shifting coastlines. Surveyors explained that if a client hires them, they simply mark the paper boundaries on record—even if those boundaries sit under six feet of water.

When she tried to get answers directly from the Office of State Lands, the agency tasked with tracking public property, her calls and emails went unanswered.

"Nobody really understands what's going on," she noted, pointing out that critical standards like how deep or how long water must cover a plot to count as "permanently submerged" remain entirely undefined by state courts.

Through programs like the Lemmon Fellowship, students like Habib can conduct critical legal work on issues that affect communities today and in the future. When submerged land loss reaches populated areas, Louisiana will be forced to confront a legal system completely unprepared for a moving shoreline.

"I don't think it's within the next couple of years, but within the next decade or two, there will definitely be some kind of tipping point," Habib warned.