Procedural Posture: corporate attorneys in California

Procedural Posture: corporate attorneys in California

Respondent riparian landowners brought suit against appellant power company, seeking to enjoin the company's use of river waters, which were subject to an earlier contract between the company and the landowners' predecessors. The Superior Court of Fresno County, California, sustained the landowners' demurrers to the company's asserted defenses and barred evidence on the defenses. It issued the injunction. The company appealed.

    

Overview

The trial court erred in sustaining demurrers to many of the company's defenses and in denying it the right to offer evidence relating to those defenses. Significantly, the court found that the denials the company made in its first answer, which included denial of the riparian nature of the lands in question, denial of ownership of the land by the landowners, and denial of the landowners' successorship to the key contract interests, raised questions that should have been considered by the trial court. Although the granting of an injunction was discretionary in the trial court, denials of the nature made by the company constituted competent defenses and required an evidentiary showing before an injunction should issue. The court found that other defenses asserted by the company, including improper use of the land by the landowners, waiver of the landowners' rights, and a statute of limitations defense were significant enough to have required the trial court to evidence in their support. Because of these errors, the granting of the injunction in favor of the landowners was also error.

Outcome

The court reversed the judgment, granting the landowners an injunction against the company's use of river waters, and remanded the case to the trial court for a trial on the merits. The court directed the trial court to overrule the landowners' demurrers to several of the company's separate defenses.