Mealey's Water Rights : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Water Rights

February 25, 2022
California Appeals Court Says Watermaster Can’t Appeal A Water Decree Decision

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Feb. 23 said a court-appointed watermaster does not have the right to appeal a trial court’s order interpreting a water decree because the watermaster disagrees with the court’s interpretation.
February 24, 2022
United States: Tribes Have Sovereign Power Over Their Own Water Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Feb. 10 told the U.S. Supreme Court that it should deny review of a challenge involving Native American control over water rights, saying federal law and court precedents recognize that tribes have sovereign power to control their own lands and waters.
February 24, 2022
Groundwater Leaseholder: Water District Reduced Water Take In Ultra Vires Action

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas company that claims that it has groundwater leases on Feb. 15 sued a local groundwater district alleging that the district wrongly declared that a water permit was invalid and reduced the company’s permit from 28,500 acre-feet of water to zero acre-feet.
February 18, 2022
9th Circuit Declines En Banc Rehearing Requests In Navajo Water Rights Case

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 17 denied two petitions for rehearing en banc for the court’s reversal and remand after finding that a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decree establishing water rights to the Colorado River does not strip a federal court of jurisdiction to decide the Navajo Nation’s breach of trust claim against the Department of the Interior (DOI) for allegedly mismanaging the tribe’s water resources.
February 09, 2022
Law Firm Says SLAPP Suit In Water Dispute Wasn’t Malicious Against Activists

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California law firm on Jan. 3 told a state appeals court it should affirm dismissal of an appeal by a citizen’s group in an underlying water rights case because the appellants failed to show that the law firm acted with malice in suing the appellants and the city of Weed, Calif., on behalf of a lumber company.
February 08, 2022
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases

New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
February 08, 2022
Montana High Court Affirms Water Right Forfeited, Priority Date Changed

HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on Jan. 25 affirmed a Montana Water Court ruling that a water right was forfeited because of nonuse and that appled a later rather than an earlier priority date to a claim.
February 08, 2022
U.S. High Court Special Master Stays Texas-New Mexico Water Case For Negotiations

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A U.S. Supreme Court special master on Jan. 24 stayed a trial of Texas’ water claims against New Mexico and Colorado after the parties indicated that they are in settlement discussions.
February 08, 2022
California Appeals Court Affirms Denial Of Challenge To Water Pipeline

EL DORADO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Jan. 28 said an environmental impact report (EIR) about the replacement of an open water ditch with a buried pipeline “adequately appraised” a public interest group and the public about the nature of the watershed and the abandonment of the open ditch.
February 08, 2022
Texas Supreme Court To Decide TCEQ Jurisdiction Over Disputed Water Rights

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 28 agreed to review whether the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has jurisdiction to determine who owns disputed water rights.
February 08, 2022
Nevada Water Court Study Commission Given Draft Water Court Proposal

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A draft proposal to commission certain Nevada district court judges as water judges was presented at a Jan. 21 meeting of the Nevada Commission to Study the Adjudication of Water Law Cases.
February 08, 2022
Federal Judge: License Denial To Cross Drains, Canal Didn’t Violate Rights

FRESNO, Calif. — A California federal judge on Jan. 24 said two water defendants did not deny a farmer due process or equal protection by refusing to grant the farmer licenses allowing a proposed water reclamation project to cross two drains and a canal.
February 08, 2022
California Appeals Court: Appeal Of Pipeline Ruling Was Filed Too Late

FRESNO, Calif. — A California state appeals court on Jan. 12 said defendants’ appeal of a trial court judgment granting a right of way for a water pipeline was filed too late irrespective of one defendant’s bankruptcy stay.
February 08, 2022
California High Court Won’t Review ‘Monterey’ Water Contract Changes, Fee Denial

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on Jan. 25 denied review of the denial of mandates and attorney fees in challenges to the “Monterey” changes in long-term water supply contracts involving California’s Central Water Project and State Water Project.
February 08, 2022
10 Idaho Entities Agree To 3-Year Groundwater Management Plan

BOISE, Idaho — Ten Idaho entities have agreed to a term sheet governing the development of a plan that would regulate groundwater use in the Big Wood River Basin for the next three years through restrictions, water purchases, fallowing farmland and contributions to a new fund, the Idaho Water Resource Board announced Jan. 24.
January 31, 2022
Editor’s Note

The journalists and staff of Mealey’s Litigation Reports are saddened by the passing of co-founder Michael P. Mealey. He was a respected member of the newsletter community, being named publisher of the year by the National Newsletter Association and president of the National Newsletter Association. Mike and Judy Mealey started Mealey Publications Inc. in 1984. As president, Mike grew the Mealey’s Litigation Report portfolio, introduced email news bulletins and electronic CD formats and launched a continuing legal education conference business. Mealey’s was sold to LexisNexis in 2000. We hope to carry on his journalistic curiosity and integrity in the titles we continue to publish today under his name.
January 24, 2022
Interlocutory Appeal Of Summary Judgment Ruling In S.C. Pollution Row Denied

CHARLESTON, S.C. — There will be no interlocutory appeal of a July 2021 decision that denied various defendants summary judgment in connection with allegations that they discharged pollutants into the Kiawah and Stono rivers, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled Jan. 19.
January 24, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court To Review 9th Circuit Ruling On EPA’s Definition Of ‘Wetlands’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 24 agreed to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion applying one of the high court’s own definitions of what constitutes “wetlands” for purposes of enforcing the Clean Water Act (CWA), a certiorari grant that may prompt the current court to revisit its 2006 ruling in Rapanos v. United States.
January 11, 2022
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases

New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
January 11, 2022
Hay Farm Says Federal Wetlands Project Interferes With Senior Water Rights

SPOKANE, Wash. — A hay farm on Dec. 21 sued the United States for allegedly failing to comply with federal and state environmental and water laws when the government implemented a wetlands restoration project that reduced the farm’s available irrigation water.
January 11, 2022
California Appellants Tell Appeals Court Challenge To City’s Well-Drilling Is Ripe

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two appellants in a Nov. 10 reply brief tell a California appeals court that their lawsuits against the city of Lincoln and its plan to drill new water wells is ripe for a decision on whether the plan violates their water rights.
January 11, 2022
California Appeals Court Affirms Denial Of Challenge In Antelope Valley Water Case

FRESNO, Calif. — A California appeals court panel on Dec. 17 affirmed a lower court ruling that a Physical Solution in a groundwater basin case excluded a nonparticipating water district from a two-year replacement water assessment exception.
January 11, 2022
California City Tells Appeals Court Contempt Verdict Should Preclude Recovery

LOS ANGELES — The city of Bakersfield, Calif., on Nov. 23 told a state appeals court that a trial court denied it due process and put it in double jeopardy when, after a judge rejected a contempt claim against it by a water district, the court granted the district a motion to enforce judgment in a water supply dispute.
January 11, 2022
Nevada Federal Judge: Nevada City Lacks NEPA Jurisdiction To Stop Leaky Canal Fix

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada federal judge on Dec. 13 dismissed a city’s attempt to use federal environmental law to stop the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from patching a leaky canal that feeds into groundwater because the city’s interest is economic rather than environmental.
January 11, 2022
California Appeals Court: Small Use Water Registration Is Strictly Ministerial

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court on Dec. 15 affirmed a trial court ruling that the approval of a small domestic use registration for water was a ministerial act and did not require review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).