Kabua, et al. vs. M/V Mell Springwood, et al. SCT Civil 2016-001, 22 October 2019 (Marshall Islands)

The appellants, customary and traditional owners of wetos (land running across atolls from the lagoon to the ocean) on Ebeye (collectively the "Kabua Plaintiffs"), filed suit arising out of the grounding of a vessel in the lagoon waters in Kwajalein Atoll. The Kabua Plaintiffs seek monetary damages for injury allegedly caused to a reef in the lagoon and the associated "marine resources" by the grounding. The Kabuas concededly do not have ownership interest in the submerged lands, but assert that they have standing based on their traditional rights to protect and pursue damages for injury to natural resources, on behalf of themselves and of all persons similarly damaged. They maintain that, by traditional rights and custom, their land ownership includes rights to the surrounding marine resources. 

The court found that the Kabua Plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claims for the reason, among others, that the Kabua Plaintiffs have not shown that they have a legal interest in the reef that was damaged by the vessel’s grounding. Under the Marshall Islands' Revised Code, “all marine areas below the ordinary high watermark belong to the government,” and not to any private person or a group of private persons. Thus, the traditional and customary rights of landowners to control the use of, or material in, marine areas below the ordinary high water mark are subject to, and limited by, the inherent rights of the government as the owner of such marine areas.