Sunherald.com -  A family that owned a restaurant in Bay St. Louis before Hurricane Katrina has won $644,000 in a lawsuit, with jurors ruling that land Mississippi took to build a new small-craft harbor was private property, not state tideland.

The verdict came Monday after a weeklong trial in Hancock County, Paul Scott, a lawyer for the Murphy family, said.

Testimony showed that the Murphy family, which operated Dan B's beachfront restaurant, had deeds showing their property extended beyond a decades-old retaining wall to the water's edge, Scott said. The Murphys had owned the land since the 1980s, he said.

Pamela Weaver, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, declined to comment Wednesday. Hosemann's office administers state tidelands. The state could choose to pay the judgment or appeal. Continue