Santa Barbara County Water Agency v. All Persons & Parties

The background facts of this case, and the basic contentions of the parties, are fully and correctly set forth in the prior opinion of this court in this case (Santa Barbara etc. Agency v. All Persons, 47 Cal.2d 699 [ 306 P.2d 875 ]) at pages 702 to 707. What was there said need not be repeated here. It is reaffirmed.

The trial court entered its judgment upholding the legality of the organization and existence of the agency, the city of Santa Barbara and the four county water districts, upholding *745 the legality of the execution of the six contracts involved, upholding the lawfulness of the six contracts, and declaring that the defendants had waived or were estopped from asserting the illegality or unconstitutionality of the agency and of the Santa Barbara County Agency Act ([1 Deering’s Wat. Code Anno., 1954], Act 7303, Stats. 1945, p. 2780; amended by Stats. 1949, p. 18).

The defendants appealed. This court affirmed the judgment insofar as it declared the validity of the Santa Barbara Water Agency Act and the existence of the agency and its member units, but reversed the judgment insofar as it confirmed and declares valid the master contract and the five member unit…