## Facts

- Normal Parm Jr. and four other recreational fishermen had fished for more than a decade in and around the Mississippi River in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana.
- Each spring, the Mississippi River would rise and overflow far beyond its ordinary channel, inundating land that was normally dry and, at times, located miles from the river’s usual course.
- During these flood periods, the fishermen used boats to fish in floodwater covering land owned by Walker Cottonwood Farms, LLC.
- Walker objected to the fishermen being over its property and complained to Sheriff Mark Shumate, the Sheriff of East Carroll Parish.
- The fishermen refused to stop fishing over Walker’s inundated land after being told the owner did not consent.
- Sheriff Shumate arrested the fishermen for trespass under Louisiana law.
- The fishermen filed a federal suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming false arrest and arguing the sheriff lacked probable cause because the public allegedly had a right to fish on the property when it was covered by Mississippi River floodwater.
- The district court denied the fishermen’s summary-judgment motion and granted Sheriff Shumate’s cross-motion for summary judgment, and the fishermen appealed.

## Issues

1. Under federal law or Louisiana law, does the public have a right to fish over privately owned land when that land is temporarily submerged by the Mississippi River’s high water?
2. If no such public fishing right exists, did Sheriff Shumate nonetheless lack probable cause to arrest the fishermen for criminal trespass, supporting a § 1983 false-arrest claim?

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Sheriff Shumate and the denial of the fishermen’s motion.
- The court rejected the claim that federal law on navigable waters created a public right to fish over privately owned land simply because floodwater covered it.
- The court concluded Louisiana law did not provide a public right to fish on the privately owned property during flood stage.
- Because the fishermen were on private property without consent and the sheriff acted on the owner’s complaints and the trespass statute, the sheriff had probable cause to arrest them, defeating the § 1983 false-arrest claim.

## Legal Principles

- Federal doctrines tied to navigable waters do not, by themselves, turn privately owned, ordinarily dry land into public fishing grounds merely because a river temporarily covers it.
- Under Louisiana law, the public’s use rights in a navigable waterway do not automatically include a right to enter and fish over privately owned soil when it is flooded.
- Advisory materials (such as an attorney general opinion) do not, standing alone, remove probable cause where the officer has a reasonable basis to treat the land as private and the owner has forbidden entry.
- A § 1983 false-arrest claim fails when the arrest was supported by probable cause under the applicable state criminal law.

## Conclusion

Parm and the other fishermen could not show a federal or Louisiana-law right to fish over Walker Cottonwood Farms’ privately owned land during Mississippi River flooding, so Sheriff Shumate had probable cause to arrest them for trespass; the Fifth Circuit therefore affirmed summary judgment for the sheriff on the § 1983 false-arrest claim.


Parm v. Shumate, 513 F.3d 135 (2007)