LMCD, Minnetonka Beach prevail in dock dispute

Private property owners sued to prevent a city dock from being installed adjacent to their property because they alleged it interfered with their riparian rights and impaired their view of Lake Minnetonka.  Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (“LMCD”) and two of its board members were named in the suit. In an order dated May 14, 2020, Hennepin County District Court Judge Thomas S. Fraser rejected the claims, and granted summary judgment to the LMCD and the City of the Village of Minnetonka Beach (“City”).

The lawsuit alleged that LMCD and City had wrongly interfered with the riparian rights of property owners, Steve and Sunhi Schussler, because of the installation of City Dock No. 10, which extends from an easement area granted to the City by plat in 1889.  That dock has been installed there on a seasonal basis since before 1977. Plaintiffs made a variety of claims against the LMCD, two of its board members, and the City, including that the City’s dock and the City’s dock program were illegal and should not have been approved by LMCD, that LMCD did not have a right to deny Plaintiffs a variance for their own dock, and that the City’s dock was a nuisance and impaired Plaintiffs’ view of the lake. Plaintiffs also asserted that the LMCD had violated the Open Meeting Law and deprived Plaintiffs of due process rights.  The Court rejected all of those claims.

It was Plaintiffs’ second attempt at suing the LMCD since purchasing the property in 2017. An earlier claim based on LMCD’s rejection of a variance application was dismissed on summary judgment in 2019.

Hoff Barry partner Justin L. Templin represented the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District and Board Members, Dan Baasen and Dennis Klohs.