A team of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. litigators prevailed on behalf of GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos America, Inc., Caribbean Crossing, LTD, and several big tech companies in a Palm Beach County Circuit Court case that sets a precedent for future cases involving sovereign submerged lands in Florida.

On Jan. 2, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John J. Parnofiello granted summary judgment in defendants’ favor in South Spanish Trail (SST) LLC vs GlobeNet, et al., case number 2020-CA-002024, dismissing all the plaintiff’s remaining claims in the matter.

The decision comes after six years of protracted litigation — with thousands of docket entries in four related cases that started in county court, stalled with two separate stints in federal court, before twice being remanded back to state circuit court. This ruling followed from a 4-day trial in 2024 where then presiding Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Nutt issued an order finding that the “subject lands are sovereign submerged lands held in trust for the people of the State of Florida pursuant to Article X, Section 11 of the Florida Constitution. The properties are not subject to plaintiff’s private claims of ownership and causes of action based upon those claims.”