Facts

Several parties commenced litigation to adjudicate all the landowner's water rights in the Antelope Valley Groundwater Basin. As part of the litigation, government entities who supply water in the area claimed rights by prescription. Rebecca Willis brought an action on behalf of herself and a class of approximately 65,000 private landowners in Antelope Valley to obtain a judicial determination of their rights to use groundwater from the basin as against the public water suppliers. She also asserted claims for quiet title, damages under the takings clauses of the federal and state constitutions, public and private nuisance, trespass, conversion, and injunctive relief.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Willis contended that she and the other landowners had a property right in the water within the basin as well priority use of the water over the public water suppliers. She claimed that the Public Water Suppliers do not have superior rights by prescription. She also claimed that she and the other landowners would be entitled to damages and just compensation if the government entities' were to take their water rights through prescription.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that their historical pumping gave them prescriptive rights to all of the class members' water rights and their rights are superior.

Result

The Willis class members and the public water suppliers reached a settlement in 2010, in which the water suppliers agreed that the Willis Class have an overlying right to a correlative share of 85 percent of the federally adjusted native safe yield in the basin for reasonable and beneficial uses on their overlying land free of replacement assessment. The Willis Class agreed that the defendants collectively have the right to produce up to 15 percent of the Basin's federally adjusted native safe yield. The parties also agreed to be bound by a groundwater management plan (physical solution) if such a plan were to be consistent with the 2010 settlement and judgment and if such a plan were to be ordered by the court as part of a final judgment adjudicating all the parties water rights in the basin. In the settlement, claims of prescription were released and dismissed by the public water suppliers. Further, the public water suppliers agreed not to take any positions or enter into any agreements that would be inconsistent with the water rights recognized by the water suppliers in the settlement. In 2015, the public water suppliers joined with the other pumpers of groundwater in the basin (not including the Willis Class) in urging the court to adopt a judgment and physical solution, which subordinated the rights of the Willis Class to the basin's native safe yield. The court entered the requested judgment and physical solution.

Other Information

The Willis Class plans to appeal the judgment.