Preview
1 ELIZABETH P. EWENS (SB #213046)
elizabeth.ewens@stoel.com
2 TIMOTHY M. TAYLOR (SB #144335)
tim.taylor@stoel.com
3 JANELLE S.H. KRATTIGER (SB #299076)
janelle.krattiger@stoel.com
4 HERACLIO PIMENTEL (SB #326751)
heraclio.pimentel@stoel.com
5 STOEL RIVES LLP
500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600
6 Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: 916.447.0700
7 Facsimile: 916.447.4781
8 TIFFANY N. NORTH (SB #228068)
County Counsel
9 JASON T. CANGER (SB #296596)
County Counsel
10 jason.canger@ventura.org
800 South Victoria Avenue, L/C #1830
11 Ventura, CA 93009-1830
Telephone: 805.654.2590
12 Facsimile: 805.654.2185
13 Attorneys for Respondent and Defendant EXEMPT FROM FILING FEES
Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency GOV. CODE, § 6103
14
15 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
16 COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA
17 LAS POSAS BASIN WATER RIGHTS CASE NO. 21CV03714
COALITION, an unincorporated association,
18 FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER
Petitioner and Plaintiff, MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE
19 MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
v.
20 Case Management Conference
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER Date: May 6, 2022
21 MANAGEMENT AGENCY, a public entity, Time: 8:30 a.m.
Dept: 3
22 Respondent and Defendant. Judge: Thomas P. Anderle
23 Action Filed: September 17, 2021
Trial Date: Not set.
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S TOEL R IVES LLP
-1-
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT -
SACRAMENTO
- 21CV03714
115210899.4 0041862-00006
1 Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (“FCGMA”) hereby submits this Case
2 Management Conference statement in advance of the May 6, 2022 Case Management Conference
3 (“CMC”), and reports the following:
4 A. Administrative Record.
5 Las Posas Basin Water Rights Coalition (“Petitioner”) and FCGMA previously agreed to
6 extend the deadline by which to prepare and certify the administrative record in this action from
7 February 11, 2022 until April 12, 2022. (Pub. Resources Code, § 21167.6(c); Second Stipulation
8 and Order re Administrative Record, filed February 15, 2022.) By stipulation, the parties have
9 agreed to extend the deadline by which the administrative record must be certified to June 13, 2022.
10 (Pub. Resources Code, § 21167.6(c); Third Stipulation and [Proposed] Order re Administrative
11 Record, submitted April 12, 2022.) The responsive pleading will be filed by FCGMA following the
12 certification of the administrative record, in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section
13 1089.5.
14 FCGMA agreed to the stipulated extensions as a professional courtesy. However, FCGMA
15 also advised Petitioner that FCGMA expects that Petitioner will proceed without further delay to
16 prepare the record, and that given the anticipated limited size of the record and the statutory
17 recognition for preference in California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) matters (Pub.
18 Resources Code, § 21167.1(a)), FCGMA currently does not believe any further extensions are
19 justified.
20 B. Notice of Related Cases Untimely Filed.
21 On April 8, 2022, Petitioner belatedly filed a Notice of Related Case in this case, seeking
22 to relate this case with Las Posas Basin Water Rights Coalition v. Fox Canyon Groundwater
23 Management Agency, case no. 20CV02036, filed June 10, 2020, and Las Posas Valley Water Rights
24 Coalition, et al. v. Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency, case no. VENCI00509700,
25 filed March 27, 2018. Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 3.300, the deadline to file the
26 Notice was “no later than 15 days after the facts concerning the existence of related cases [became]
27 known.” On April 14, 2022, the parties met and conferred. There remains a disagreement between
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S TOEL R IVES LLP
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ATTORNEYS AT LAW
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT -
SACRAMENTO
- 21CV03714
115210899.4 0041862-00006
1 the parties about whether this case should be related to case nos. VENCI00509700 and 20CV02036
2 at this late stage.
3 On April 15, 2022, FCGMA submitted its response and objection to Petitioner’s Notice of
4 Related Cases. FCGMA noted in its response and objection that pursuant to Public Resources Code
5 section 21167.1(a), the CEQA causes of action shall be given preference over all other civil actions
6 so that the action or proceeding shall be quickly heard and determined. FCGMA reiterates that
7 Petitioner’s request to relate the cases is untimely, the opportunity to relate has been waived, and
8 relating the cases would stand as an obstacle to achieving the legislative mandate in section
9 21167.1(a). The CEQA portion of this action challenges the adoption of a facially valid ordinance,
10 entitled “An Ordinance to Establish an Extraction Allocation System for the Las Posas
11 Groundwater Basin.” Litigation on the CEQA portion of this action is limited to whether FCGMA
12 complied with CEQA and can proceed promptly upon certification of the record. It benefits neither
13 party to delay resolution of the CEQA issues. Prolonged delay will continue to prejudice FCGMA
14 as itproceeds to implement and enforce the facially valid ordinance. Delays in determining the
15 merits of Petitioner’s challenge will also harm Petitioner and other operators in the basin subject to
16 the ordinance as they are required to make business decisions in anticipated compliance with the
17 ordinance.
18 FCGMA further notes that this Court may, upon the motion of any party, agree to sever the
19 actions in this proceeding to accomplish the statutory goal of preference. (Pub. Resources Code,
20 § 21167.1(c).)
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S TOEL R IVES LLP
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ATTORNEYS AT LAW
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT -
SACRAMENTO
- 21CV03714
115210899.4 0041862-00006
1 C. Briefing Schedule.
2 As the administrative record for the writ causes of action has not been certified, FCGMA
3 believes that it is premature to consider a briefing or hearing schedule, or other discovery schedules
4 related to the non-CEQA causes of action.
5 Dated: April 21, 2022 STOEL RIVES LLP
6
By:
7 Elizabeth P. Ewens
Timothy M. Taylor
8 Janelle S.H. Krattiger
Heraclio Pimentel
9 Attorneys for Respondent and Defendant
Fox Canyon Groundwater Management
10 Agency
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S TOEL R IVES LLP
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ATTORNEYS AT LAW
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT -
SACRAMENTO
- 21CV03714
115210899.4 0041862-00006
1 DECLARATION OF SERVICE
2 I declare that I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to this action. I am
employed in the City and County of Sacramento and my business address is 500 Capitol Mall,
3 Suite 1600, Sacramento, California 95814.
On April 21, 2022, at Sacramento, California, I served the attached document(s):
4
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT
5 AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
6 on the following parties:
7 Peter A. Goldenring Attorneys for Petitioner and
Mark R. Pachowicz Plaintiff
8 PACHOWICZ GOLDENRING, PLC Las Posas Basin Water
6050 Seahawk St. Rights Coalition
9 Ventura, CA 93003-6622
805-642-6702
10
peter@gopro-law.com
11
Kevin M. O’Brien Attorneys for Petitioner and
12 Meredith E. Nikkel Plaintiff
Kelley M. Breen Las Posas Basin Water
13 Brian E. Hamilton Rights Coalition
Holly E. Tokar
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DOWNEY BRAND LLP
15 621 Capitol Mall, 18th Fl
Sacramento, CA 95814
16 916-444-1000
kobrien@downeybrand.com
17 mnikkel@downeybrand.com
kbreen@downeybrand.com
18
bhamilton@downeybrand.com
19 cgermain@downeybrand.com (secretary)
20 BY FIRST CLASS MAIL: I am readily familiar with my employer’s practice for the collection and
processing of correspondence for mailing with the U.S. Postal Service. In the ordinary course of business,
correspondence would be deposited with the U.S. Postal Service on the day on which it is collected. On the
21 date written above, following ordinary business practices, I placed for collection and mailing at the offices of
Stoel Rives LLP, 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600, Sacramento, California 95814, a copy of the attached document
22 in a sealed envelope, with postage fully prepaid, addressed as shown on the service list.I am aware that on
motion of the party served, service is presumed invalid if the postal cancellation date or postage meter date is
more than one day after the date of deposit for mailing contained in this declaration.
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BY EMAIL: On the date written above, I emailed a copy of the attached documents to the addressee, as shown
24 on the service list.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
25 foregoing is true and correct and that this document was executed on April 21, 2022, at
Sacramento, California.
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Dawn R. Forgeur, CCLS
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S TOEL R IVES LLP
-5-
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT -
SACRAMENTO
- 21CV03714
115210899.4 0041862-00006
Preview
1 ELIZABETH P. EWENS (SB #213046) elizabeth.ewens@stoel.com 2 TIMOTHY M. TAYLOR (SB #144335) tim.taylor@stoel.com 3 JANELLE S.H. KRATTIGER (SB #299076) janelle.krattiger@stoel.com 4 HERACLIO PIMENTEL (SB #326751) heraclio.pimentel@stoel.com 5 STOEL RIVES LLP 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600 6 Sacramento, CA 95814 Telephone: 916.447.0700 7 Facsimile: 916.447.4781 8 TIFFANY N. NORTH (SB #228068) County Counsel 9 JASON T. CANGER (SB #296596) County Counsel 10 jason.canger@ventura.org 800 South Victoria Avenue, L/C #1830 11 Ventura, CA 93009-1830 Telephone: 805.654.2590 12 Facsimile: 805.654.2185 13 Attorneys for Respondent and Defendant EXEMPT FROM FILING FEES Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency GOV. CODE, § 6103 14 15 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 16 COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA 17 LAS POSAS BASIN WATER RIGHTS CASE NO. 21CV03714 COALITION, an unincorporated association, 18 FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER Petitioner and Plaintiff, MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE 19 MANAGEMENT STATEMENT v. 20 Case Management Conference FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER Date: May 6, 2022 21 MANAGEMENT AGENCY, a public entity, Time: 8:30 a.m. Dept: 3 22 Respondent and Defendant. Judge: Thomas P. Anderle 23 Action Filed: September 17, 2021 Trial Date: Not set. 24 25 26 27 28 S TOEL R IVES LLP -1- ATTORNEYS AT LAW FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT - SACRAMENTO - 21CV03714 115210899.4 0041862-00006 1 Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (“FCGMA”) hereby submits this Case 2 Management Conference statement in advance of the May 6, 2022 Case Management Conference 3 (“CMC”), and reports the following: 4 A. Administrative Record. 5 Las Posas Basin Water Rights Coalition (“Petitioner”) and FCGMA previously agreed to 6 extend the deadline by which to prepare and certify the administrative record in this action from 7 February 11, 2022 until April 12, 2022. (Pub. Resources Code, § 21167.6(c); Second Stipulation 8 and Order re Administrative Record, filed February 15, 2022.) By stipulation, the parties have 9 agreed to extend the deadline by which the administrative record must be certified to June 13, 2022. 10 (Pub. Resources Code, § 21167.6(c); Third Stipulation and [Proposed] Order re Administrative 11 Record, submitted April 12, 2022.) The responsive pleading will be filed by FCGMA following the 12 certification of the administrative record, in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 13 1089.5. 14 FCGMA agreed to the stipulated extensions as a professional courtesy. However, FCGMA 15 also advised Petitioner that FCGMA expects that Petitioner will proceed without further delay to 16 prepare the record, and that given the anticipated limited size of the record and the statutory 17 recognition for preference in California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) matters (Pub. 18 Resources Code, § 21167.1(a)), FCGMA currently does not believe any further extensions are 19 justified. 20 B. Notice of Related Cases Untimely Filed. 21 On April 8, 2022, Petitioner belatedly filed a Notice of Related Case in this case, seeking 22 to relate this case with Las Posas Basin Water Rights Coalition v. Fox Canyon Groundwater 23 Management Agency, case no. 20CV02036, filed June 10, 2020, and Las Posas Valley Water Rights 24 Coalition, et al. v. Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency, case no. VENCI00509700, 25 filed March 27, 2018. Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 3.300, the deadline to file the 26 Notice was “no later than 15 days after the facts concerning the existence of related cases [became] 27 known.” On April 14, 2022, the parties met and conferred. There remains a disagreement between 28 S TOEL R IVES LLP -2- ATTORNEYS AT LAW FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT - SACRAMENTO - 21CV03714 115210899.4 0041862-00006 1 the parties about whether this case should be related to case nos. VENCI00509700 and 20CV02036 2 at this late stage. 3 On April 15, 2022, FCGMA submitted its response and objection to Petitioner’s Notice of 4 Related Cases. FCGMA noted in its response and objection that pursuant to Public Resources Code 5 section 21167.1(a), the CEQA causes of action shall be given preference over all other civil actions 6 so that the action or proceeding shall be quickly heard and determined. FCGMA reiterates that 7 Petitioner’s request to relate the cases is untimely, the opportunity to relate has been waived, and 8 relating the cases would stand as an obstacle to achieving the legislative mandate in section 9 21167.1(a). The CEQA portion of this action challenges the adoption of a facially valid ordinance, 10 entitled “An Ordinance to Establish an Extraction Allocation System for the Las Posas 11 Groundwater Basin.” Litigation on the CEQA portion of this action is limited to whether FCGMA 12 complied with CEQA and can proceed promptly upon certification of the record. It benefits neither 13 party to delay resolution of the CEQA issues. Prolonged delay will continue to prejudice FCGMA 14 as itproceeds to implement and enforce the facially valid ordinance. Delays in determining the 15 merits of Petitioner’s challenge will also harm Petitioner and other operators in the basin subject to 16 the ordinance as they are required to make business decisions in anticipated compliance with the 17 ordinance. 18 FCGMA further notes that this Court may, upon the motion of any party, agree to sever the 19 actions in this proceeding to accomplish the statutory goal of preference. (Pub. Resources Code, 20 § 21167.1(c).) 21 // 22 // 23 24 25 26 27 28 S TOEL R IVES LLP -3- ATTORNEYS AT LAW FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT - SACRAMENTO - 21CV03714 115210899.4 0041862-00006 1 C. Briefing Schedule. 2 As the administrative record for the writ causes of action has not been certified, FCGMA 3 believes that it is premature to consider a briefing or hearing schedule, or other discovery schedules 4 related to the non-CEQA causes of action. 5 Dated: April 21, 2022 STOEL RIVES LLP 6 By: 7 Elizabeth P. Ewens Timothy M. Taylor 8 Janelle S.H. Krattiger Heraclio Pimentel 9 Attorneys for Respondent and Defendant Fox Canyon Groundwater Management 10 Agency 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 S TOEL R IVES LLP -4- ATTORNEYS AT LAW FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT - SACRAMENTO - 21CV03714 115210899.4 0041862-00006 1 DECLARATION OF SERVICE 2 I declare that I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to this action. I am employed in the City and County of Sacramento and my business address is 500 Capitol Mall, 3 Suite 1600, Sacramento, California 95814. On April 21, 2022, at Sacramento, California, I served the attached document(s): 4 FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT 5 AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT 6 on the following parties: 7 Peter A. Goldenring Attorneys for Petitioner and Mark R. Pachowicz Plaintiff 8 PACHOWICZ GOLDENRING, PLC Las Posas Basin Water 6050 Seahawk St. Rights Coalition 9 Ventura, CA 93003-6622 805-642-6702 10 peter@gopro-law.com 11 Kevin M. O’Brien Attorneys for Petitioner and 12 Meredith E. Nikkel Plaintiff Kelley M. Breen Las Posas Basin Water 13 Brian E. Hamilton Rights Coalition Holly E. Tokar 14 DOWNEY BRAND LLP 15 621 Capitol Mall, 18th Fl Sacramento, CA 95814 16 916-444-1000 kobrien@downeybrand.com 17 mnikkel@downeybrand.com kbreen@downeybrand.com 18 bhamilton@downeybrand.com 19 cgermain@downeybrand.com (secretary) 20 BY FIRST CLASS MAIL: I am readily familiar with my employer’s practice for the collection and processing of correspondence for mailing with the U.S. Postal Service. In the ordinary course of business, correspondence would be deposited with the U.S. Postal Service on the day on which it is collected. On the 21 date written above, following ordinary business practices, I placed for collection and mailing at the offices of Stoel Rives LLP, 500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600, Sacramento, California 95814, a copy of the attached document 22 in a sealed envelope, with postage fully prepaid, addressed as shown on the service list.I am aware that on motion of the party served, service is presumed invalid if the postal cancellation date or postage meter date is more than one day after the date of deposit for mailing contained in this declaration. 23 BY EMAIL: On the date written above, I emailed a copy of the attached documents to the addressee, as shown 24 on the service list. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the 25 foregoing is true and correct and that this document was executed on April 21, 2022, at Sacramento, California. 26 27 Dawn R. Forgeur, CCLS 28 S TOEL R IVES LLP -5- ATTORNEYS AT LAW FOX CANYON GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY’S CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT - SACRAMENTO - 21CV03714 115210899.4 0041862-00006