City of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles City Water Co.

These four appeals are taken, by the various parties, from certain orders made in three certain actions pending in the superior court of the county of Los Angeles.

One of the three actions was entitled Los Angeles City Water Company, Plaintiff, v. The City of Los Angeles, and the persons who constituted the mayor and common council of said city, and in that case the appeal is by the defendants in said action from an order of the court below enjoining and restraining the defendants from taking possession ol certain waterworks property hereinafter mentioned; and this is the appeal numbered L. A. 657.

*372 Another of said actions is entitled Crystal Springs Land and Water Company, Plaintiff, v. City of Los Angeles et al., Defendants, and the appeal in that case is by the defendants from a similar order enjoining and restraining the defendants from taking possession of certain waterworks described in the complaint therein. This is the appeal numbered L. A. 658.

The other of the three actions is entitled The City of Los Angeles, Plaintiff, v. The Los Angeles City Water Company and The Crystal Springs Land and Water Company, above mentioned. In this action the plaintiff sought to…

In the above-entitled cases the petition for rehearing'is denied. In response to one suggestion in the petition, it is proper to say that if the city of Los Angeles has any rights to the waters of the Los Angeles river as a riparian proprietor, such rights tvere not involved in these cases and were not considered or determined by the decision.

We also think, after further consideration, that what was said in the opinion about the general character of the ownership of the waters of the river by the city of Los Angeles to the point that it was only entitled to the use of the water when in a position to use it, and could not assert any rights of ownership in the water except when in such position, was unnecessary to the decision, and the same is hereby eliminated from the opinion.

The water company is, substantially, in the position of a mortgagee in possession, having a lien on the property involved as security for the performance of the covenants of the city contained in the contract; and we see no reason, for the present, at least, why their lien and possession should he disturbed or a receiver appointed.