AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) – The Texas Supreme Court has issued a new ruling placing private property rights ahead of the state’s Open Beaches Act.

The Texas court was ordered to rehear the case after a federal appeals court found fault with its first ruling. But the new ruling is essentially the same and says that if an act of nature erodes a beach, the landowner’s right to the remaining property is not diminished by state law, even if it is now part of the beach.

The Open Beaches Act states that a beach up to the vegetation line is open to the public. But following Hurricane Rita, the beach in Galveston shrank and moved onto private property, prompting a lawsuit. The court ruling Friday gives ownership of the beach to the property owner.

In late 2005, Hurricane Rita had shifted the vegetation line further inland in Galveston. According to court documents, state’s General Land Office determined that Carol Severance’s beachfront home was within the public beach and asked her to move it, offering her $40,000. 

State said when Severance purchased the property, she received a letter, notifying that the state could ask her to remove the structure if it becomes located on the public beach due to acts of nature.

The following year, Severance filed suit against the Texas General Land Office.

According to the state’s General Land office , Texas Open Beaches Act was passed in 1959. Officials say the state’s beaches have one of the highest erosion rates in the nation, losing 5 to 10 feet of beach each year. The sea has naturally moved toward the structures along the beach and these homes can create a barrier to access  the beach to the public. 

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