Akins

— Defendants State of California, Reclamation District 1000 (RD 1000), and American River Flood Control District (ARFCD) appeal from a judgment, following a bench trial, finding defendants liable for inverse condemnation claims of 25 plaintiffs whose personal and real property were damaged by flooding during heavy storms in February 1986.

Except for plaintiffs whose properties were located in an area known as Strawberry Manor, plaintiffs’ properties were damaged when flood control works that were designed to protect lower lying lands created a hydraulic dam and backwater effect that caused flooding of plaintiffs’ upper lying lands. As to plaintiffs located in Strawberry Manor, liability was predicated in part on defendants’ failure to have a flood watch plan to close a gap built into a levee, thereby causing a failure in a system designed to protect that territory.

Defendants contend, among other things, that they are not liable because plaintiffs must prove and failed to prove unreasonable conduct by the defendants, pursuant to a rule first enunciated in Belair v. Riverside County Flood Control Dist. (1988) 47 Cal.3d 550 [ 253 Cal.Rptr. 693 , 764 P.2d 1070 ]…