Backstreet Boy Battles Neighbor Over Beach Access
He claims to be from the back streets – but these days he’s fighting for his tony backyard.
A member of the 90s boyband the Backstreet Boys danced his case into court Thursday to do battle with a local senior citizen who he claims has been illegally sunning herself on the Florida beach behind his waterfront home.
Water-loving warbler Brian Littrell pressed his trespassing suit against beach-goer Carolyn Barrington Hill, in which he accuses the 67-year-old of coming onto the dry sand behind his $3.8 million beach house in the town of Santa Rosa to hang out and sunbathe without his permission.
The 50-year-old crooner says Hill has traipsed onto the dry sand of his private beach repeatedly from April through September in violation of Sunshine State laws – which say that the public can only go on the beach up to the high tide line behind private homes.
The music star’s suit says the woman repeatedly refused to leave and even videotaped his family without their consent when they complained.
Hill, 67, who described herself in legal papers as “semi-retired” and “on Medicare,” fired back by filing a motion to dismiss Littrell’s whole case – which Hill and Littrell’s lawyers discussed during a video hearing in Walton County Court Thursday.
The singer says Hill’s presence on his property is part of an attempt by local beach-access activists to force open the area’s sands and take away his private beach use.
“What this is really about is a political campaign against [the Littrells] run by certain individuals in the Walton County area,” Littrell’s lawyer, Brent Day, said. “Some people believe they shouldn’t be able to own certain pieces of property.”
“My clients have been wanting to enjoy the peaceful use of their beach,” Day said. “They have been harassed by numerous organizations … day in and day out.”
Hill’s lawyer,Heidi Mehaffey,said that she and her client wanted to ensure that the law allowing access to the “waterline” is enforced and people get at least this level of use of the sands behind wealthy homes.
“The beaches in our great state below the mean high water line is sovereign land held by the state for the public trust of all people – all people, not just people who are w