29 results for 'cat:"Property" AND cat:"Water"'.
J. Baker finds that the water court properly determined that the state is a partial owner of a water right whose source is a groundwater well on private land. The well supplies water to irrigate privately owned parcels and an adjacent 160-acre parcel of school trust land. The state has an ownership right to the water that is diverted from private land for the beneficial use of irrigating school trust land, which was reserved to the state in 1864. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: Baker, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: DA 23-0314, Categories: property, water
J. Dyk finds that the claims court improperly ruled against an Indian tribe in various claims concerning water rights and water related infrastructure because the Tucker Act sufficiently establishes the U.S.'s duty to properly manage existing water infrastructure. Reversed in part.
Court: Federal Circuit, Judge: Dyk, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2021-1880, Categories: property, Native Americans, water
J. Gibbons finds the district court properly dismissed this land and civil rights dispute. The landowner claims the Bureau of Land Management harmed his property rights by canceling his grazing permit for a portion of land over which he says he has right-of-way, as well as water and grazing rights. The road builder and users of the road built on the land were variously improperly served. The property owner also failed to correctly allege civil conspiracy claims and filed other claims outside limitations. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Court of Appeals, Judge: Gibbons , Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 85779-COA, Categories: property, water, Agency
J. Worthen finds the trial court properly found for a water district. The property owner declined the district's offer to purchase an easement across a portion of their property containing a water well and the district then filed a condemnation petition. After the owner declined to respond for more than three years, the trial court granted summary judgment to the district, vesting it with the property rights, and awarding the owner $29,000. The owner made no objection at trial to the alleged deficiencies in the affidavit asserting no bona fide offer was made from the county. The owner has failed to preserve the arguments about the affidavit’s defects. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Worthen , Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 12-23-00254-CV, Categories: Administrative Law, property, water
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J. Perry finds that the trial court erred in ruling the decedent's wife's personal servitude of habitation in the outdoor kitchen of a residence was terminated because she "was cohabitating with a significant other." The record does not support the finding that the decedent's wife and her boyfriend were living together in the outdoor kitchen based on the limited number of times he stayed over. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Perry, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: CA-23-344, Categories: Contempt, property, water
J. Ives finds the lower court properly granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the governing body of the acequia water system. Its application of two statutory schemes for water distribution - one for irrigation and one for retrieval from a ditch - is compatible with New Mexico law and affords proper water rights to the landowners. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals, Judge: Ives, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: A-1-CA-40325, Categories: property, water
J. Luthy finds the district court improperly dismissed this contract dispute between a construction company and water supplier. The water supplier filed a lawsuit alleging the construction company connected to its water supply without paying membership fees or seeking permission. The construction firm then sued for fraud and breach of contract. The court erred when they concluded the remedy was for a “party’s failure to file a compulsory counterclaim” when the lawsuit was dismissed. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Luthy, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 20220565-CA, Categories: Civil Procedure, property, water
[Consolidated] J. Lee finds the district court improperly found in favor of the water rights owners who claim the state engineer lacks authority to conjunctively manage waters to administer multiple basins forming the flow system at issue. The engineer did not exceed his statutory authority to combine multiple basins into one hydrographic "superbasin" based on a shared source. All respondents had adequate notice and opportunity to be heard. Affirmed in part.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 84739, Categories: Administrative Law, property, water
J. Moeller finds that the trial court properly granted a private water company's motion for summary judgment on claims it improperly updated its governing documents and lacked authority to issue additional shares. No new shares have been issued so the claim is not ripe and the remaining claims are derivative and subject to specific pleading requirements that were not met. Affirmed.
Court: Idaho Court Of Appeals, Judge: Moeller, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 49237, Categories: property, water, Fiduciary Duty
[Consolidated.] J. Jones finds the district court improperly granted the Army Corp of Engineer's motion for voluntary remand of approved jurisdictional determinations in its conflict with landowners over privately-owned wetlands. There is no clear demarcation between U.S. waters and the wetlands at issue; therefore, the property is not subject to federal jurisdiction. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones , Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 21-30163, Categories: property, water, Jurisdiction
J. Rothstein grants the property owner partial summary judgment for his claim that the man-made stormwater treatment facility on the residential development property, which the property owner says unlawfully discharges pollutants into the nearby wetlands and Lacamas Lake, is both a point source and part of the “Waters of the United States." Nothing in the Clean Water Act indicates that a point source and a WOTUS are mutually exclusive, and the residential development owner does not support its argument that the matter will not survive a legal challenge with any legal authority.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Rothstein, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv5834, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, property, water
J. McEvers finds that the district court improperly denied a new trial motion in a matter condemning property. The lower court correctly determined that the arguments were not foreclosed for failure to appeal, however, the lower court improperly determined a drain project exceeded the maximum maintenance levy authorized by statute requiring the approval of the majority of landowners. Affirmed in part.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: McEvers, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2023ND230, Categories: property, water
[Consolidated] J. Freudenberg finds the district court properly reversed and vacated the natural resources district board of directors’ determinations that certain landowners violated ground water management rules. The district’s attorneys were involved in the decision-making process of the case after exercising both investigative and prosecutorial roles, violating the landowners’ due process right to an impartial tribunal. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Freudenberg , Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: S-23-169, Categories: property, water, Due Process
J. Hicks grants the county’s motion to remand. The county began this land ownership dispute involving a spring water system in state court. The water system was deeded by the Southern Pacific Railroad to the city of Monticello, and the county maintained and operated it since 1977. A recent landowner, upon whose land the water system comprised an easement for the county, cut locks from and altered water collection boxes, allowing the water to flow onto the owner’s land. The owner has failed to establish the amount in controversy threshold for federal diversity jurisdiction. Removal is not authorized.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Hicks, Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv420, NOS: All Other Real Property - Real Property, Categories: property, water, Jurisdiction
J. Sung finds that the district court improperly dismissed a matter for failure to state a claim in a Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation complaint against Idaho state officials concerning the interpretation of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Bridger between the United States and several bands of the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes. Under the treaty, the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes ceded most of their territory to the United States. At the same time, the Tribes expressly reserved their right to hunt on unoccupied lands of the United States. The 1868 Treaty does not make maintenance of the Tribes’ reserved hunting rights contingent on permanent residence. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Sung, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 22-35140, Categories: property, Native Americans, water
J. Oliver finds that the lower court should not have granted partial summary judgment to the owners of lots in a subdivision who are unhappy with their allotted water usage and say they are owed a secondary water system in addition to private wells. The county code does not require this. Reversed.
Court: Utah Court Of Appeals, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: October 5, 2023, Case #: 20220556-CA, Categories: property, water
J. Renner finds that the trial court applied the wrong standard to deny a utility's challenge to a water district's eminent domain action seeking to take over part of the utility's electrical distribution system. The utility was not required to show that the water district grossly abused its discretion or that it lacked substantial evidence to support its resolution of necessity. Instead, the utility must simply show that one of the resolution's condemnation for public necessity elements or one of the condemnation for a more necessary public use elements is not supported by the preponderance of evidence. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Renner, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: C097529, Categories: Civil Procedure, property, water
J. Fleming grants the Ohio EPA's motion to dismiss, ruling the property owners' 2021 lawsuit is time-barred, as they were aware of any alleged conspiracy to prevent them from developing wetlands by 2017 at the latest. The owners claim the conspiracy is ongoing but failed to provide any evidence to support their argument, although the EPA officers would be entitled to immunity even if the claims were not time-barred.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Fleming, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 5:21cv1848, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, property, water
J. Spain finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the property owners who sued a manufacturing facility that was allegedly responsible for the flooding of their homes during Hurricane Harvey. There was sufficient evidence that the facility's negligently-built drainage system caused the flooding. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Spain, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 14-22-00013-CV, Categories: property, water, Negligence
J. Jewell finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the individual accused of causing drainage issues on her neighbors' property through the excavation of sand on her land. The neighbors did not establish that the individual's sand excavation activities caused damage to their property. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jewell, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 14-22-00497-CV, Categories: property, water, Injunction
J. Lambert finds for the property owner in his wide-ranging lawsuit involving property boundaries and historic ownership dating back to the 19th century against the city, his neighbors, nearby landowners and others, which stems from a dispute starting in 2005 over docks on his and his neighbors' waterfront properties and their respective riparian rights. In part because the trial court incorrectly determined it was undisputed that a portion of the easternmost part of the owner's property and adjacent unplatted land was owned by the city as sovereign, the trial court's summary judgment order in favor of the city and the neighbors is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings. The trial court's denial of the property owner's motion for attorney fees is upheld without discussion. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Lambert, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 21-2407, Categories: property, water, Contract
J. Hart finds that the trial court properly dismissed a fisher's quiet title and declaratory relief claims to the riverbed of the Arkansas River for lack of standing. Both claims would require him to assert his own legally protected interest in the riverbed, but he instead relied on proof that the state owns the riverbed. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Hart, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 22SC119, Categories: Environment, property, water