Court Backs Secretary of State and Harrison County in Imperial Palace/Treasure Bay Casino Case

A Harrison County Chancery Court has found that the Secretary of State and Harrison County officials have the right to charge rent and levy taxes on casino barges over public trust tidelands.  

"This decision is a victory for the people of Mississippi, the people of Harrison County, and the schoolchildren of Biloxi," Clark said.  The Court has affirmed that the tidelands are pubic property and that the people have a right to collect rent for the use of their land.

Imperial Palace Casino, Treasure Bay Casino, and Nevada-based Bayview Land, LTD sued the Secretary of State arguing that Clark's office had no right to collect rent on tidelands leases to casinos.  The casinos claimed that as owners of the upland property their littoral rights allowed them to dock a casino barge over the water without signing a lease with the State.  Under state law, the Secretary of State's Office negotiates tidelands leases for private uses of public trust tidelands including casino barges, which must be over state-owned water bottoms.

Imperial Palace also sued Harrison County Tax Assessor Tal Flurry, Harrison County Tax Collector David Larosa, and the Harrison County Board of Supervisors arguing that the County had no right to levy ad valorem taxes on the leased tidelands.  Harrison County levies taxes on the leased land, with much of the revenue benefiting the schools.  The Court rejected the casinos arguments against the Secretary of State and Harrison County.

Special Chancellor Donald B. Patterson heard the case in Harrison County Chancery Court.  The City of Biloxi and the Biloxi Municipal School District joined the suit in support of the Secretary of State and Harrison County.  

Citing previous Court rulings, the Court found that owners of land whose property abut the water at the high watermark are entitled to enjoy their littoral rights; however, these rights are administered through the agency so designated by statute.  That agency's procedures and requirements must be followed.  That agency is the Secretary of State who is the trustee for all public lands in Mississippi, including the Public Trust Tidelands.

It was the second major court victory on tidelands issues for Clark's office in less than a month.  In March, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the Secretary of State's discretion to grant or deny a tidelands lease in accordance with state law.  Clark had rejected a tidelands lease application from Columbia Land Development that sought to put a casino in a rural area east of the Bay of St. Louis.

In that case, the Court declared: The Tidelands Act does not guarantee a lease for gaming.  Only where, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, with approval from the Governor, it is determined that the granting of a lease would serve a higher purpose than to preserve the natural state of the tidelands, may the littoral landowner be granted a lease." Treasure Bay Casino and Imperial Palace Casino had filed briefs supporting Columbia's suit against the Secretary of State in that case as well.

The Imperial Palace case was tried over a period of 25 days, beginning in August 2002 and ending in November 2002. During the course of the trial, the Court heard from 21 witnesses and admitted over 400 exhibits.