McDonald v. Halvorson

This case began as a dispute between adjacent private property owners over access to a beach at Little Whale Cove on the Oregon coast. Because access to and use of the beach was also a matter of public concern, the state intervened. After a trial, the circuit court, in addition to resolving the dispute between the private parties, found that Little Whale Cove was not, in fact, a part of the Pacific Ocean; instead, the cove was a freshwater pool occasionally influenced by the ocean. The court then held that any beach on the cove was a private beach to which the general public had no right of…