By TalesFromFlorida.com
Oh, Florida Man. Never change.
This time, we’ve got William Swaim, a developer who apparently woke up one day and decided, “You know what? I own the ocean now.” Or at least, parts of it. Specifically, the submerged land under the Intracoastal Waterway near Boca Raton.
Swaim, through his company South Spanish Trail LLC (because of course there’s an LLC involved), went full Pirates of the Caribbean and sued major tech companies for $250 million, claiming they had to remove fiber optic cables from his underwater property.
Spoiler alert: The ocean said no.
After six years of legal battles, a Palm Beach County judge finally shut him down, ruling that—shocker—Florida owns the water, not some guy with a stack of questionable deeds.
But this isn’t Swaim’s first rodeo in the “I Own What Now?” department.
- Backyard Bandit: In 2021, he claimed ownership of parts of the Hillsboro Inlet, including people’s backyards. Homeowners were thrilled when they got letters demanding fees for using their own docks. The court’s response? “LOL, no.”
- Canal Con Artist: Another Swaim-owned company tried to charge homeowners for using canals behind their houses—canals they’d been using for decades. The judge’s ruling? “Nice try, but still no.”
At this point, Swaim’s legal strategy seems to be: “If I keep filing lawsuits, maybe one day a judge will be as delusional as I am.”
Meanwhile, the rest of Florida is just sitting back, sipping a margarita, and watching this guy try to claim the ocean like it’s a lost Amazon package.
So, to all the aspiring underwater landlords out there—maybe stick to landlubber real estate. The ocean’s not for sale.