MEA client Paul Florsheim succesfully appealed a January 2026 municipal court decision that found him guilty of trespassing for walking along a stretch of the Lake Michigan shoreline north of Atwater Beach in the Village of Shorewood.  

The case stems from an incident last summer in which a lakefront property owner confronted Mr. Florsheim, accused him of trespassing, and later called the police. Although Mr. Florsheim explained that the state constitution and the public trust doctrine protect the public’s right to walk on dry land between the ordinary high water mark and the water’s edge, he was issued a $313 trespassing ticket by Village of Shorewood police. 

When Mr. Florsheim contested the citation, a municipal court judge ruled in favor of the Village, pointing to Doemel v. Jantz, a 1923 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision involving public access to Lake Winnebago, which found that members of the public are subject to trespassing laws unless their feet are in the water.  

Midwest Environmental Advocates continued to represent Mr. Florsheim when he filed an appeal in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. We argued that the state constitution and the public trust doctrine protect the public’s right to walk on dry land between the ordinary high water mark (OHWM) and the water’s edge.