Page 1
C.A. Says Suit Can’t Be Maintained Against Water District Wiped Out of Existence
Under Hoffstadt’s Opinion, Users Who Received Brown-Tinted Water Have No Legal Redress
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A water district that supplied discolored water to about 1,600 residents of the City of Compton and the community of Willowbrook cannot be sued in a putative class action, the Court of Appeal for this district has held, because that entity no longer exists, its functions having been lifted by a Los Angeles County commission and taken over by the county.
The district delivered brownish, and sometimes smelly, water through 70-year-old pipes connected to aged wells.
Writing for Div. Two, Justice Brian M. Hoffstadt said in an opinion filed Thursday:
“The question presented is: Can a lawsuit against the district be maintained after the district and its board are both dissolved, on the theory the district still must ‘wind up’ its affairs? The answer is: It depends.”
He explained that the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission (“LAFCO”) was statutorily authorized to either let the district wind up its affairs or summarily yank powers from it, entrusting them to another agency.
“Because the LAFCO in this case took the latter route,” Hoffstadt wrote, “the plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit against the dissolved district must be dismissed.”
That’s just what then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Buckley, now a private judge, did on Sept. 9, 2021 in granting judgment on the pleadings, holding that the Sativa Water District was not a “proper party” because it is extinct.
The putative class action was instituted on July 9, 2018. Two days later, LAFCO voted to seek a dissolution of the water district.
Then the Legislature got involved. On Sept. 28, 2018, it enacted an urgency measure, effective immediately—AB 1577—authorizing the State Water Resources Control Board to fire the directors of the water district’s board and shift control of the board’s functions to another entity.
The board quickly complied, discharging the directors and vesting the district’s erstwhile powers in Los Angeles County.
While that seemed to resolve the matter, AB 1577 had not only authorized the board to act, but also vested authority in LAFCO to do so. Following a public hearing, LAFCO on Feb. 13, 2019, also acted to dissolve the district, with its action going into effect on on March 19, 2019.
It proclaimed “the County as the successor agency.”
AB 1577 provided that the successor agency could not be “held liable for claims by past or existing district ratepayers or those who consumed water provided through the district concerning the operation and supply of water from the district.”
Hoffstadt’s Opinion
Hoffstadt’s opinion, in a portion certified for publication, affirms Buckley’s determination that the now-nonexistent district cannot be sued. The justice rebuffed the plaintiffs’ contentions as to the supposed continued existence of the district for litigation purposes, saying:
“Because the County Commission tasked the County with winding up the District’s affairs, the District was not doing so and hence had no further function to carry out; it could not continue as a defendant.”
In an unpublished portion, the opinion finds that “AB 1577 renders the County absolutely immune from liability for the claims plaintiffs seek to vindicate in this case.”
Private Company
In assuming control of the functions of the water district, the county shifted supervision to its Department of Public Works, then awarded authority this year to a Covina-based private company, Suburban Water Systems.
In a Jan. 19 press release, the county said:
“Stabilizing and managing Sativa’s neglected 100-year-old water system required significant investment, repairs and infrastructure improvements. The work included renovating Sativa’s wells and replacing most of the electronics that control them, building new watermains to improve system circulation and resilience, and multiple rounds of watermain flushing to aggressively scour the accumulated sediment and manganese that gave the water a brown appearance.
“Under the management of LA County Public Works, the water system began serving customers a safe, clean and reliable water supply—without raising water bill rates.
“Suburban has committed to continuing the County’s work to rebuild Sativa’s infrastructure while not raising water bill rates in the immediate future.”
While residents in Compton and Willowbrook had unpalatable brown-tinted water, they had the lowest rates in the area: $65 a month, with no meter-reading.
The case is Barajas v. Sativa Los Angeles County Water District, 2023 S.O.S. 176.
Century City attorney Mark Ravis and Pasadena practitioner Jorge Reyes represented the plaintiffs. Elizabeth Mary Kessel, Armineh Megrabyan and Steven J. Lowery of the Burbank firn of Kessel & Megrabyan acted for the erstwhile water district, on behalf of its insurer.
Copyright 2023, Metropolitan News Company