Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/372/609/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 12:26:24+00:00

Document:
Respondents, who are claimants to water rights along the San Joaquin River before the Friant Dam in California, brought suit against the United States, local officials of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and a number of irrigation and utility districts to enjoin the storing and diversion of water at the dam, which is part of the Central Valley Reclamation Project, authorized by Congress and undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation under the Act of August 26, 1937, 50 Stat. 844. The suit was brought originally in a State Court, and was removed to a Federal District Court.
1. The McCarran amendment, 66 Stat. 560, granting consent to join the United States as a defendant in any suit "for the adjudication of rights to the use of water of a river system or other source," is not applicable here, since all claimants to water rights along the river were not made parties, no relief was asked as between claimants, and priorities were not sought to be established as to the appropriative and prescriptive rights asserted. Therefore, the United States has not consented to be made a party defendant in this suit, and it must be dismissed from the suit for want of jurisdiction. Pp. 372 U. S. 617-619.
The United States was empowered to acquire the water rights of respondents by physical seizure; the officials of the Bureau of Reclamation did not act beyond the scope of their authority; their alleged interference with the claimed rights of respondents would not be a trespass, but a partial taking for which the United States would be required to compensate respondents; the suit to enjoin these officials actually was a suit against the United States; and it must be dismissed as to these officials. Pp. 372 U. S. 611, 372 U. S. 619-623.
measured by the difference in the market value of respondents' land before and after the interference or taking. Pp. 372 U. S. 611, 372 U. S. 623-626.
4. The irrigation and utility districts which have contracts with the United States for the use of the water from the lake created by this dam must likewise be dismissed from this suit. P. 372 U. S. 626.
293 F.2d 340, 307 F.2d 96, affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
which would afford the landowners a supply of water simulating that of the past. Rank v. Krug, 142 F.Supp. 1. The Court of Appeals reversed as to the United States, finding that it had not consented to be sued. However, as to the officials, it affirmed on the ground that the United States had neither acquired nor taken the claimed water rights, and that the officials were therefore acting beyond their statutory authority. California v. Rank, 293 F.2d 340 and 307 F.2d 96. No. 31 is the petition of the local Reclamation Bureau officials, and No. 115 is that of the Irrigation and Utility Districts. Both cases proceed from the same Court of Appeals opinion. The importance of the question to the operation of this vast federal reclamation project led us to grant certiorari. 369 U.S. 836 and 370 U.S. 936. We have concluded that the Court of Appeals was correct in dismissing the suit against the United States; that the suit against the petitioning local officials of the Reclamation Bureau is in fact against the United States, and they must be dismissed therefrom; that the United States either owned or has acquired or taken the water rights involved in the suit, and that any relief to which the respondents may be entitled by reason of such taking is by suit against the United States under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346. These conclusions lead to a reversal of the judgment insofar as suit was permitted against the United States through Bureau officials.
Valley Project: Resource Development of a Natural Basin, 38 Cal.L.Rev. 588, 591 (1950), for a description and citation of federal authorizations.
into the San Joaquin River. The waters of the San Joaquin River are impounded by a dam constructed at Friant, approximately 60 miles upstream from Mendota. Friant Dam stores the water in Millerton Lake, from which it is diverted by the Madera Canal on the north to Madera County and the Friant-Kern Canal on the south to the vicinity of Bakersfield for use in those areas for irrigation and other public purposes.
water rights or agreements for substitute diversions or periodic releases of water from Friant Dam into the San Joaquin River. Graham, The Central Valley Project: Resource Development of a Natural Basin, supra. As of 1952, the United States had entered into 215 contracts of this nature involving almost 12,000 acres, of which contracts some 100 require the United States to maintain a live stream of water in the river.
However, agreements could not be reached with some of the claimants along this reach of the river, and this suit resulted.
addition to the local officials of the Reclamation Bureau, two of the Irrigation Districts receiving diverted water from Millerton Lake were originally made defendants, and later the other Irrigation and Utility District defendants were joined.
The complaint challenged the constitutional authority of the United States to operate the Project. A three-judge court was impaneled pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2282, and it decided this issue presented no substantial constitutional question. Rank v. Krug, 90 F.Supp. 773 (D.C.S.D.Cal.1950). This left undecided the question of whether the Secretary of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation officials had statutory authority to acquire the water rights involved. The issue remained dormant until the Delta-Mendota Canal was completed in 1951, 142 F.Supp. at 45, and the Government began to reduce the flow of water through Friant Dam. By consent, temporary restraining orders were entered controlling the releases covering the years 1951, 1952, and part of 1953. In June of the latter year, the United States withdrew its consent with the approval of the Court of Appeals, United States v. United States District Court, 206 F.2d 303. The District Court then ordered the United States joined as a party on the basis of the McCarran amendment, Act of July 10, 1952, 66 Stat. 560, 43 U.S.C. § 666, infra, n. 5. Friant Dam has, however, been operated by the United States without judicial interference since June 30, 1953.
"have been, now are, and will be entitled to the full natural flow of the San Joaquin River past Friant at all times . . . unless and until the physical solution herein elsewhere described is erected and constructed [by the defendants] within a reasonable time, and thereafter operated as herein elsewhere set forth."
Transcript of Record, Vol. III, p. 993. The physical solution was a series of 10 small dams to be built at the expense of the United States along the stretch of river involved the the purpose of keeping the water at a level "equivalent" to the natural flow, 142 F.Supp. at 166, or to simulate it at a flow of 2,000 feet per second. 142 F.Supp. at 169.
The Court of Appeals reversed as to the joinder of the United States, holding that it could not be made a party without its consent. It likewise found that the United States was authorized to acquire, either by physical seizure or otherwise, such of the rights of the claimants as it needed to operate the Project, and that this power could not be restricted by state law. However, it found that no such authorized seizure had occurred, because the Government had not sufficiently identified what rights it was seizing, and, because of this equivocation of the federal officials, there was a trespass, rather than a taking. It concluded, therefore, that the petitioner Reclamation Bureau officials had acted beyond their statutory authority, and affirmed the injunctive features of the judgment. On rehearing, the injunction was modified to make it inapplicable to the petitioner Districts in No. 115, but the court refused to dismiss as to them.
be established as to the appropriative and prescriptive rights asserted. But because of the presence of local Reclamation Bureau officials and the nature of the relief granted against them, the failure of the action against the United States does not end the matter. We must yet deal with the holding of the Court of Appeals that the suit against these officials is not one against the United States.
"may acquire by proceedings in eminent domain, or otherwise, all lands, rights-of-way, water rights, and other property necessary for said purposes. . . ."
will know what part of their claimed water rights the Government has taken or will take.
"A casual day by day taking under these circumstances constitutes day to day trespass upon the water right. . . . The cloud cast prospectively on the water right by the assertion of a power to take creates a present injury above what has been suffered by the interference itself -- a present loss in property value which cannot be compensated until it can be measured."
293 F.2d at 358. The court, therefore, permitted the suit against the petitioning Reclamation Bureau officers as one in trespass, which led it to affirm, with modification, the injunctive relief granted by the District Court.
"impounding, or diverting, or storing for diversion, or otherwise impeding or obstructing the full natural flow of the San Joaquin River. . . ."
of the San Joaquin involved here indicates clearly that the impairment was most substantial -- almost three-fourths of the natural flow of the river. To require the full natural flow of the river to go through the dam would force the abandonment of this portion of a project which has not only been fully authorized by the Congress, but paid for through its continuing appropriations. Moreover, it would prevent the fulfillment of the contracts made by the United States with the Water and Utility Districts, which are petitioning in No. 115. The Government would, indeed, be "stopped in its tracks. . . ." Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Corp., supra, at 337 U. S. 704.
The physical solution has no less direct effect. The Secretary of the Interior, the President, and the Congress have authorized the Project as now constructed and operated. Its plans do not include the 10 additional dams required by the physical solution to be built at government expense. The judgment, therefore, would not only "interfere with the public administration," but also "expend itself on the public treasury. . . ." Land v. Dollar, supra, at 330 U. S. 738. Moreover, the decree would require the United States -- contrary to the mandate of the Congress -- to dispose of valuable irrigation water and deprive it of the full use and control of its reclamation facilities. It is therefore readily apparent that the relief granted operates against the United States.
"The mere allegation that the officer, acting officially, wrongfully holds property to which the plaintiff has title does not meet [the] requirement [that it must also appear that the action to be restrained or directed is not action of the sovereign]. True, it establishes a wrong to the plaintiff. But it does not establish that the officer, in committing that wrong, is not exercising the powers delegated to him by the sovereign."
"the action of an officer of the sovereign (be it holding, taking or otherwise legally affecting the plaintiff's property) can be regarded as so 'illegal' as to permit a suit for a specific relief against the officer as an individual only if it is not within the officer's statutory powers or, if within those powers, only if the powers, or their exercise in the particular case, are constitutionally void."
bottom its conclusion on a finding of any limitation. Having plenary power to seize the whole of respondents' rights in carrying out the congressional mandate, the federal officers a fortiori had authority to seize less. It follows that if any part of respondents' claimed water rights were invaded, it amounted to an interference therewith and a taking thereof -- not a trespass.
We find no substance to the contention that respondents were without knowledge of the interference or partial taking. Nor can we accept the view that the absence of specificity as to the amount of water to be taken prevents the assessment of damages in this case. From the very beginning, it was recognized that the operation of Friant Dam and its facilities would entail a taking of water rights below the dam. Indeed, it was obvious from the expressed purpose of the construction of the dam -- to store and divert to other areas the waters of the San Joaquin -- and the intention of the Government to purchase water rights along the river. [Footnote 6] Pursuant to this announced intention, the Government did, in fact, enter into numerous contracts for water rights, as we have previously noted. While it is true, as the Court of Appeals observed, that the Government did not announce that it was taking water rights to a specified number of "gallons" or, for that matter, "inches" of water, see 293 F.2d 340, 357-358, we do not think this quantitative uncertainty precludes ascertainment of the value of the taking. On this point, we conclude that the Court of Appeals was in error. We find no uncertainty in the taking.
"Friant Dam has since been operated in accordance with the Secretary's stated plan, subject to adjustments required by weather and other conditions."
and after the interference or partial taking. As the Supreme Court of California said in Collier v. Merced Irrigation District, supra, at 571-572, 2 P.2d at 797.
". . . [T]he riparian right is a part and parcel of the land in a legal sense, yet it is a usufructuary and intangible right inhering therein and neither a partial nor a complete taking produces a disfigurement of the physical property. The only way to measure the injury done by an invasion of this right is to ascertain the depreciation in market value of the physical property. . . . There was a distinct conflict in the evidence as to whether the lands of appellant had a greater or a less market value after the taking by respondent, but there is no question of law arising on the evidence."
The right claimed here is to the continued flow of water in the San Joaquin and to its use as it flows along the landowner's property. A seizure of water rights need not necessarily be a physical invasion of land. It may occur upstream, as here. Interference with or partial taking of water rights in the manner it was accomplished here might be analogized to interference or partial taking of air space over land, such as in our recent case of Griggs v. Allegheny County, 369 U. S. 84, 369 U. S. 89-90 (1962). See United States v. Causby, 328 U. S. 256, 328 U. S. 261-263, 328 U. S. 267 (1946); Portsmouth Co. v. United States, 260 U. S. 327, 260 U. S. 329 (1922). See also 1 Wiel, Water Rights in the Western States (3d ed. 1911), § 15; 2 Nichols, Eminent Domain (3d ed. 1950), § 6.3. Therefore, when the Government acted here "with the purpose and effect of subordinating" the respondents' water rights to the Project's uses "whenever it saw fit,"
"with the result of depriving the owner of its profitable use, [there was] the imposition of such a servitude [as] would constitute an appropriation of property for which compensation should be made."
v. United States, 231 U. S. 530, 231 U. S. 538 (1913); Portsmouth Co. v. United States, supra, at 260 U. S. 329.
In an appropriate proceeding, there would be a determination of not only the extent of such a servitude, but the value thereof based upon the difference between the value of respondents' property before and after the taking. Rather than a stoppage of the government project, this is the avenue of redress open to respondents. Since we have set aside the judgments of both the Court of Appeals and the District Court, it is appropriate that we make clear that we do not in any way pass upon or indicate any view regarding the validity of respondents' water right claims.
Similar disposition must be made of No. 115. There, the petitioners are 14 Irrigation and Utility Districts which have contracts with the Government for the use of water from Millerton Lake. The Court of Appeals, as we have noted, dissolved the injunction previously granted against them by the District Court. No other relief having been sought against the Districts, it appears that they should have been dismissed from the action. In any event, in view of our disposition of No. 31, dismissal of these petitioners is now in order.
The judgment as to the dismissal of the United States is affirmed; it is reversed as to the failure to dismiss the Reclamation officials and the Irrigation and Utility Districts, and the cases are remanded to the Court of Appeals with directions that it vacate the judgment of the District Court and remand the case with instructions that the same be dismissed.
* Together with No. 115, Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District et al. v. Rank, et al., on certiorari to the same Court.
A procedure authorized by California law whereby existing rights to the use of water are protected and excess waters are put to beneficial use.
See the Feasibility Report of Secretary Ickes to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, dated November 26, 1935, and approved by the President on December 2, 1935, reprinted in 90 F.Supp. 823-827 and in 1 Engle, Central Valley Project Documents, H.R.Doc.No.416, 84th Cong., 2d Sess. 562-567 (1956).
The trial, which lasted more than 200 days, required 30,000 pages of record and produced hundreds of orders. Opinions below are State v. Rank, 293 F.2d 340 (C.A.9th Cir., 1961); Rank v. United States (Krug), 142 F.Supp. 1 (D.C.S.D.Cal.1956). Related cases involving intermediate orders of the District Court are Rank v. Krug, 90 F.Supp. 773 (D.C.S.D.Cal.1950); United States v. United States District Court, 206 F.2d 303 (C.A.9th Cir., 1953); California v. United States District Court, 213 F.2d 818 (C.A.9th Cir., 1954); Rank v. United States, 16 F.R.D. 310 (D.C.S.D.Cal.1954); City of Fresno v. Edmonston, 131 F.Supp. 421 (D.C.S.D.Cal.1955).
The last two sections of the judgment are dealt with in cause No. 51, City of Fresno v. California, decided today, post, p. 372 U. S. 627.
"(a) Consent is given to join the United States as a defendant in any suit (1) for the adjudication of rights to the use of water of a river system or other source, or (2) for the administration of such rights, where it appears that the United States is the owner of or is in the process of acquiring water rights by appropriation under State law, by purchase, by exchange, or otherwise, and the United States is a necessary party to such suit. The United States, when a party to any such suit, shall (1) be deemed to have waived any right to plead that the State laws are inapplicable or that the United States is not amenable thereto by reason of its sovereignty, and (2) shall be subject to the judgments, orders, and decrees of the court having jurisdiction, and may obtain review thereof, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances: Provided, That no judgment for costs shall be entered against the United States in any such suit."
"(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing the joinder of the United States in any suit or controversy in the Supreme Court of the United States involving the right of States to the use of the water of any interstate stream."
July 10, 1952, c. 651, Title II, § 208, 66 Stat. 560.
"administrative intent with respect to the operation of the Central Valley project insofar as it relates to the Friant-to-Gravelly Ford reach of the San Joaquin River."
". . . the Department will release from Friant Reservoir into the bed of the river a sufficient quantity of water (1) to meet all valid legal requirements for the reasonable and beneficial use of water, both surface and underground, by reasonable methods of diversion and reasonable methods of use in that area, and (2) to provide, in addition thereto, a continuous live stream flowing at a rate of not less than five cubic feet per second at specified control points throughout the Friant-to-Gravelly Ford area, the last one to be at a point approximately one-half mile below the head of the Gravelly Ford Canal."
Transcript of Record, Vol. VII, p. 388, n . 8.

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