Stoney Creek Orchards v. State of California

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment dismissing their complaint in inverse condemnation after the state’s general demurrer was sustained without leave to amend.

The complaint alléges that the bank of the Sacramento River on plaintiffs’ lands has been and will continue to be eroded “by the operation of the Central Valley Project” and “by the change in the natural stream flow caused by the plan, design, construction, and operation of Shasta, Keswick, and Black Butte Dams and the use of the Sacramento River as a canal for the transportation of water for the Central Valley Project.” It is also alleged that defendant state “approved the plan of each unit of the Central Valley Project,” that there has been “significant State involvement and substantial participation” in the development of that project, and, in particular, that the state “participated in the planning and development of . . . Shasta, Keswick and Black Butte Dams as units of the Central Valley Project.”

At plaintiffs’ request, the trial court took judicial notice of certain documents of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and of certain bulletins issued by defendant state. On this appeal,…