Casitas Municipal Water District, CA

Casitas Municipal Water District is actively defending and protecting the District’s water rights in the case of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper v. State Water Resources Control Board; City of San Buenaventura; City of San Buenaventura v. Duncan Abbott, et al., Cross-Complaint, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Case No. 19STCP01176.

If you received a notice or summons and wish to defend your water rights as a property owner, you should consider hiring your own attorney for your specific property rights. Because of its statutory responsibilities and mission, Casitas Municipal Water District is defending rights related to water supplied through your utility connection, not water rights associated with the property you own.  In order to pay for the legal costs associated with this defense, a charge named the City of Ventura Adjudication Charge has been added to monthly billing. See more information below.

We understand many of you have questions regarding the adjudication process initiated by the City of Ventura. Although we are legally unable to give you advice about what you should do, we want to provide you with as much information as possible.  Links to public information shared by Casitas related to the adjudication are provided below. Since this is an active legal case there are details which must remain confidential.

Latest information about the case is found at the following website:  http://www.venturariverwatershedadjudication.com.

Court Filings

Court filings submitted by Casitas are provided below:

2024 04 26 Dec of Flood ISO Status Report Statement
2024 04 26 Casitas Municipal Water District Status Report Statement
2024 03 20 Dec of Flood ISO Order to Cont the Stay
2024 03 20 Casitas Memorandum ISO Ventura's Req for an Order to Cont the Stay
2023 09 14 Decl of M. Flood ISO Joint Application to Continue Stay to March 30, 2024
2023 09 14 Joint Application to Continue the Stay to March 30, 2024
2023.09.12 Casitas Declaration to Cont Stay to March 2024
2023.03.13 Casitas Declaration to Continue Stay
2022.10.13 Ntc of Ruling re Interim Order Confirming an Exempt Cross Defendant Class(40759415.1)-c1
2022.9.15 Decl of Casitas ISO Joint Ex Parte App for an Order to Continue the Stay to March_30_2023 CONFORMED-c1
2022.08.22 Supplement to Joint Report with Ex. A and POS-c1
2022.05.31 Joint Report-c1-c1
2022.3.29 Stipulation and Request for Stay (1)
2022 03 02 CMWD's Trial Brief for Phase 1 of Trial(17569499.1)
2022 03 02 CMWD's Motion in Limine to exclude Expert Testimony of Schnaar Preston_ Decl of Jungreis
2022 01 07 CMWD's Rebuttal Expert Report
2021 12 03 CMWD's Supplemental Expert Report
2021 11 10 Casitas Notice & Motion for Order Granting Leave to Serve Expert Witness Designation
2021 10 28 Status Conference Report by CMWD
2021 10 13 Status Conference Report by CMWD
2021 07 14 Casitas Municipal Water District Objections to Current Physical Solution Proposal
2021 05 28 Casitas Verified Initial Disclosures
2021 04 12 Further Status Conference Report (04-19-21 hearing) by Casitas MWD 
2021 03 11 Notice of Errata Re Status Conference Report by Casitas MWD
2021 03 10 Status Conference Report of Cross-Def Casitas Municipal Water District (hearing 03-15-21) 
2020 06 17 Status Conference Report of Cross-Def Casitas Municipal Water District (hearing 06-24-20) 

Significant Court Rulings

 
Letters, Correspondence, and Press Releases
Press Release dated September 23, 2021   
Letter from the State Attorney General to Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles dated January 26, 2021
Press Release dated September 30, 2020
Press Release dated March 17, 2020
Press Release dated February 18, 2020
Letter from Casitas to City of Ventura dated February 14, 2020

City of Ventura Adjudication Charge

Click here for the notice of public hearing.

The following describes the implementation policy related to the charge:

1. The City of Ventura Adjudication Charge is a result of a policy to ensure that identifiable costs that are expected to incur over a period of several years should be included in the District’s water rate structure.

2. Ongoing budgetary costs should not be funded through reserve accounts.

3. District reserves are intended to provide funds for emergency one-time costs as well as large future capital expenditures.

4. Revenues from the charge will be tracked and compared with costs of the City of Ventura Adjudication litigation.

5. Full costs of the City of Ventura Adjudication litigation are not fully known but are expected to include attorney fees, expert fees, and court costs.

6. The Board will create a reserve account that will contain the funds that result from the impact charge.

7. Staff will provide an accounting of the accumulated funds and adjudication costs for the Board’s periodic consideration.

8. The City of Ventura Adjudication Charge will be removed from the District’s rate structure should the litigation be brought to a conclusion or it is dismissed entirely.

9. Unused funds collected through the impact charge will be returned to Casitas' customers.

10. The City of Ventura Adjudication Charge will support Casitas' ability to continue serve its customers, as it has in the past, by protecting Casitas' water rights and ensuring those rights remain intact.