The Bitter Feud Between a Dog Walker and a Dentist Over Who Owns the Beach
A recent trial in Shorewood, Wis., had all the trappings of a minor legal dispute. A disgruntled neighbor. A defendant representing himself who called his own father as a character witness. A $313 fine.
But if academic and devoted dog walker Paul Florsheim gets his way, the case will go all the way up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and reshape the contours of shoreline access to one of the Great Lakes.
It started when Florsheim started walking his two dogs past the Lake Michigan property of dentist Daniel Domagala, known locally for the time he spends in a Tiki-style boat house and deck that doubles as a surveillance post. From there, Domagala monitors traffic and sets off alarms to scare walkers, swimmers and kayakers away.
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At stake is what right people in Wisconsin have to take a shoreline stroll. State law is clear that people can wade, swim or boat in state-protected waters, but things get murkier out of the water. Florsheim, who was ticketed for walking on dry sand—just barely—argues it is absurd to say he could wade past but not put a foot higher up the shore.
Florsheim lost to the village at trial, but the judge, Margo S. Kirchner, indicated the case was far from dead. She said she was obligated to rule for Domagala because of a prior case involving Lake Winnebago. In that 1923 case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a landowner who wanted to water his cattle had priority over the use of the shore, not pedestrians wanting to cross the beach when the water level was low. Kirchner said that ruling seemed to apply in this case, but indicated a decision favoring the landowner over the public was out of touch with the practices in other states.
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