Morici Corporation, a California Corporation, and Cross-Appellee v. The United States of America, and Cross-Appellant

This is an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 (b), 2671-2680, for crop damage in excess of $1,000,-000 allegedly caused by the seepage of water from the Sacramento River in early 1974. Plaintiff Morici Corporation claims that the seepage resulted from excessively high levels of water in the river due to the negligent operation of a dam and reservoir works located upstream from the plaintiff’s farm. These works, constructed by the United States and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, are a part of the water regulatory system known as the Central Valley Project.

We are again called upon to interpret 33 U.S.C. § 702c, the flood immunity provision, which provides:

This court has recently described the scope of the provision in the following terms:

Pierce v. United States, 650 F.2d 202, 203 (9th Cir. 1981).

These appeals are from two separate decisions of the district court. In the first, Morici Corp. v. United States, 491 F.Supp. 466 (E.D.Cal.1980) (Morici I), the district court dismissed plaintiff’s original complaint, holding that the immunity provisions of § 702c apply despite the fact that the Central Valley Project has purposes in addition to flood…