Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell has filed court documents accusing a Florida sheriff’s office of failing to remove beachgoers trespassing on his oceanfront property, seeking judicial intervention.
Littrell’s company, BLB Beach Hut LLC, has filed a lawsuit for a writ of mandamus, a legal request that urges a judge to instruct the Walton County Sheriff’s Office to take action.
According to the petition submitted last month in a Walton County court, Littrell has tried to prevent people from entering by installing “no trespassing” signs and defining the property line with chairs, small tables, and umbrellas.
But beachgoers continue to “antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day, trespassing” on his property, the petition stated.
Under Florida law, any sand on a beach below the high tide water mark is considered public, The Associated Press reported. Homeowners with oceanfront property own the sand down to the average high-water line, according to AP, although some counties have passed local ordinances that allow the public to have access to the entire beach.
According to property records, the “Everybody” singer purchased his home along the Santa Rosa Beach in 2023 for $3.8 million, The Associated Press reported.
Littrell’s petition described instances when trespassers have allegedly damaged his property after being asked by the company’s staff to leave. The sheriff’s office was called to the property on numerous occasions because of trespassers, but has “refused to come to the subject property to enforce the law and remove the trespassers, to charge the trespassers, or to take any action, at all, thereby refusing to do their duty,” the filing said.
The family was forced to hire private security, according to the petition.
“All Brian and his family want is what anyone would want, the right to peaceful enjoyment of their property,” his attorney, Peter Ticktin, said in a statement. “The trespassers who are occupying his backyard at will are almost encouraged by a feckless sheriff’s department who is not willing to follow the law and tell the trespassers to move off of the private property, the beach, literally, their backyard.”
“We are not looking to harm anyone. We just want our property back,” he said. “We are not insisting that the sheriff lay criminal charges against anyone, unless, of course, they refuse to obey the orders of the sheriff.”
The sheriff’s office said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
“The Walton County Sheriff’s Office prides itself on handling every situation, call for service, or interaction with professionalism using a customer service approach,” a spokesperson said. “This has always been our philosophy and will remain so moving forward.”
