City of San Diego v. Cuyamaca Water Co.

287 P. 496, 209 Cal. 152, 1930 Cal. LEXIS 455
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 21, 1930
DocketDocket No. L.A. 9216.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 287 P. 496 (City of San Diego v. Cuyamaca Water Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of San Diego v. Cuyamaca Water Co., 287 P. 496, 209 Cal. 152, 1930 Cal. LEXIS 455 (Cal. 1930).

Opinion

RICHARDS, J.—

This action was commenced on May 20, 1924, in the county of San Diego, by the plaintiff, a municipal corporation, against Cuyamaca Water Company, a corporation, and Cuyamaca Water Company, a copartnership, and also against Ed Fletcher as the sole surviving member of said copartnership, and one C. F. Stern, the defendants named in the original complaint therein, the purpose of said action being that of the condemnation of a certain tract of land containing approximately 200 acres lying along the course of the San Diego River about twenty miles above said city and just below what is known as the “Capitan Grande Indian Reservation,” consisting of approximately 17,000 acres of land, of which about 1100 acres had theretofore been conveyed to the City of San Diego by an act of Congress for the development of a municipal reservoir for the impounding of the waters of the San Diego River for the municipal uses of said city. The tract of land involved in the present action adjoins the larger tract thus acquired and is also adjacent to certain other lands secured by said city from private owners; and the particular uses to which said land, in conjunction with the other adjacent lands, are to be applied are those of a dam site upon which it is proposed to erect a structure to be known as “El Capitan dam.” The river flows through this dam site partly upon *155 or under the lands thus sought to be condemned, and partly upon or under the lands which are thus already under the control of the city. The defendants appeared in the action by separate demurrers, which being overruled they answered, setting up numerous defenses to the action hereinafter to be considered in detail, and also embracing much the same matters in the form of cross-complaints. Subsequent thereto the plaintiff proffered certain important amendments to their original complaint, and the defendants also presented certain amendments to their answers and cross-complaints. In the meantime and on January 25, 1925, La Mesa Lemon Grove and Spring Valley Irrigation District, a corporation, caused itself to be made a party to the action, alleging that it had acquired an interest in the properties involved in the litigation by virtue of the fact that shortly before the institution of the action it had obtained from Cuyamaca Water Company, a copartnership, an option to purchase all of the property of said copartnership, including the particular tract of land in controversy, and that subsequent to the date of the institution of this action it had complied with the terms of said option, which had thereby become a contract of purchase and sale of said properties between itself and said copartnership, and was therefore entitled to urge on its own behalf numerous defenses to said action to be hereafter considered. When these various pleadings, original and amended, were finally filed and the issues thus made up, the action was transferred to the county of Orange for trial, and was there brought to trial upon June 15, 1925. The trial court properly considered the issues in the action as of a twofold nature, the first involving questions relative to the right and necessity for the condemnation sought by the municipality, and second as to the damages to which the defendant would be entitled in the event of such condemnation. The first of these issues was to be determined by the court, the second by a jury, which was accordingly impaneled and sworn. In the meantime the trial court proceeded with the trial of the issues to be determined without a jury, and having- determined these issues in the plaintiff’s favor, the trial of the cause upon the issues of damages was proceeded with before the jury, which after a long trial lasting until August 9, 1925, returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, fixing the *156 damages which the defendants would sustain as a result of the condemnation of said lands at the sum of $600,000. The findings of fact and conclusions of law of the court were thereupon signed and filed. Thereafter the plaintiff presented a motion for a new trial upon all the statutory grounds, but particularly stressed therein and upon the hearing thereon that the award of damages by the jury was excessive. The trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial, chiefly upon the foregoing ground; wherefrom the defendants took and perfected an appeal from the order of the trial court granting a new trial; and also took and perfected an appeal from that portion of the judgment of the trial court determining that the plaintiff was entitled to condemn the lands in question or any portion thereof. These appeals are presented to this court upon a bill of exceptions prepared and settled subsequent to the taking thereof. The cause upon these appeals was transferred to the jurisdiction of the District Court of Appeal, and upon •the transfer thereof a motion was therein made to dismiss that portion thereof which had relation to the part of the judgment appealed from, and which motion was denied by said court (City of San Diego v. Cuyamaoa Water Co. et al., 80 Cal. App. 599 [251 Pac. 341]). Thereafter the cause upon its merits was, after decision in said court, transferred to this court for hearing and determination. We may dispose of the foregoing phase of the case by stating that, whether or not we are in accord with all that is stated by said court in its opinion therein, we agree with its order denying said motion to dismiss said appeals, preferring to decide the matters involved in these appeals upon the merits thereof.

In the determination of these appeals upon their merits we shall first consider and dispose of the appellants’ contentions made upon their appeal from the portions of the judgments complained of. In their several answers and affirmative pleadings herein the defendants have consistently asserted that the plaintiff, as a municipal corporation, is not as a matter of law entitled to maintain this or any action for the condemnation of the particular lands and properties sought to be taken and applied to the municipal uses through the medium of a condemnation proceeding, for the reason that there are certain statutory provisions in the codes of *157 this state which have application to the instant situation, and which prohibit the plaintiff from the institution and maintenance of this form of action. In support of this contention the defendants have pleaded and undertaken to establish the fact that the lands affected by this proceeding, including the waters of the San Diego River which flow through said lands, form and have long formed an integral portion of the properties of the Cuyamaca Water Company, and as such have for a long time prior to the inception of this action been and still are actually appropriated to the Use of certain cities, towns and water districts other than the plaintiff herein, and particularly to the use of the La Mesa Lemon Grove and Spring Valley Irrigation District, which, as we have seen, has made itself one of the defendants herein.

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Bluebook (online)
287 P. 496, 209 Cal. 152, 1930 Cal. LEXIS 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-san-diego-v-cuyamaca-water-co-cal-1930.