## Facts

- The United States condemned 1.58 acres of waterfront property at 409 and 411–423 Commercial Street in Boston Harbor for Coast Guard-related redevelopment and other federally authorized uses.
- Portions of the described parcel lay below the low-water mark (submerged/tidelands), which Massachusetts claimed it holds in public trust for navigation and related public uses.
- The United States filed a complaint in condemnation and a declaration of taking seeking fee simple title, subject only to existing easements for roads, utilities, and pipelines, and obtained an order for immediate possession.
- Private landowners settled compensation with the United States and sought summary judgment.
- Massachusetts answered and counterclaimed for declaratory relief, seeking to prevent the taking (or later disposition) of submerged portions in a way that would extinguish or evade the state’s public trust constraints.

## Issues

1. Whether the United States may condemn, in fee simple, tidelands/submerged lands below the low-water mark notwithstanding Massachusetts’s asserted public trust interests.
2. Whether a condemnation court may grant declaratory relief limiting the federal estate or preserving state public trust restrictions against the federal title, including to prevent future conveyance free of the trust.

## Decision

- The court upheld the United States’ condemnation of the property in fee simple, including areas below the low-water mark.
- The court rejected Massachusetts’s effort to limit the estate taken or to declare that the federal title remained burdened by the state’s public trust.
- The court dismissed Massachusetts’s counterclaim and request for declaratory judgment as improper within the condemnation proceeding.

## Legal Principles

- Federal eminent domain may reach state-held interests, including a state’s public trust interest in submerged lands, upon payment of just compensation.
- In a federal taking, the condemnor generally defines the estate to be acquired; courts do not recast a declared fee simple taking into a lesser interest based on state-law limitations.
- State public trust doctrine characterizes the state’s property interest under state law, but federal condemnation authority is not constrained by state-law restrictions when the United States validly takes property for federal purposes.
- Declaratory claims seeking forward-looking limits on federal management or hypothetical future conveyances are not a proper vehicle in a condemnation action focused on title and compensation.

## Conclusion

The court held that the United States could condemn Boston Harbor tidelands in fee simple notwithstanding Massachusetts’s public trust claims, and it dismissed the Commonwealth’s counterclaim for declaratory limits on the federal estate or future disposition.


United States v. 1.58 Acres of Land, 523 F. Supp. 120 (D. Mass. 1981)