US Horticulture Farmland v. Servin CA2/6

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Berylwood is a mutual water company “organized for the purpose solely of delivering water to its shareholders at cost.” Its service area overlies the Las Posas Valley Groundwater Basin (Basin). In 2021, US Horticulture purchased Donlon Ranch, an agricultural property scheduled for irrigation by Berylwood. US Horticulture also acquired 3,720 shares of Berylwood stock associated with Donlon Ranch. Respondents, Laurel Servin (president of Berylwood), Gwyn Goodman, John Wise (owner of Wise Orchards), Josh Waters, and Jennifer Foster, were the five members of Berylwood’s board of directors at the time of the phase 2 settlement in the Adjudication. Servin, Goodman, and Wise Orchards were Berylwood shareholders, and Waters’s brother was a shareholder. Foster was not a Berylwood shareholder. She had previously been a shareholder and director of Solano Verde Mutual Water Company, another water company in the Basin, but she sold her property. Foster owned no Berylwood or Solano Verde shares when she served on Berylwood’s board. Servin became a Berylwood board member in March 2021. And Goodman, Foster, Waters, and Wise later became board members. In March 2018,…