Supreme Court won’t hear appeal from Indiana residents on lakefront property rights

The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from Indiana residents who want to extend their property rights to the state's Lake Michigan shoreline.

The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that the high court denied a petition by two landowners in Long Beach, Indiana, who live adjacent to the lake.

Don and Bobbie Gunderson were appealing a ruling last year by the Indiana Supreme Court that set the ordinary high water mark as the boundary between state-owned land under Lake Michigan and private property. They contended their lakefront property extends to the water's edge and that landowners have the right to limit who uses the beaches abutting their properties.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the state owns the shoreline and holds it in trust for all residents.