The iconic “Mucky Duck” beach bar on Captiva is commemorating its 50th anniversary with a lawsuit seeking to remove an artificial 12-foot dune next to the historic watering hole. The 218-page lawsuit reflects how the law has evolved here in Florida regarding clashes between rights of property owners and environmental concerns.
The massive complaint filed in Lee Circuit County Court, as previously reported in this publication (“Beachfront Captiva Restaurant Lawsuit Says Barrier Blocks Gulf Sunsets,” December 19, 2025), asserts 12 different claims of constitutional rights, nuisance and other matters against the Captiva Erosion Prevention District, the governing body that constructed the 12-foot-high barrier and plans to increase it to 17 feet high. The project, in excess of what the “Duck” claims is a 9.8-foot maximum, is intended to stem rising waters and storms, like surge from the pair of 2024 hurricanes, Milton and Helene, which have kept the facility closed, although it plans to re-open, subject to obtaining appropriate governmental compliance, by the end of this month, the 50th anniversary of its opening on January 29, 1976.
The lawsuit centers on the alleged impingement of the bar’s “rights of view” and “rights of visibility” of the body of water (whether called the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America, as denominated by the president), the beach and the sunsets. The “Duck” claims that the barrier causes a $7.5 million diminution of its value from an estimated $10 million to $2.5 million, along with harm to health and safety, among other assertions…