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On March 5, 2026, the Second District Court of Appeal issued an opinion in Las Posas Valley Water Rights Coalition v. Ventura County Water Works District No. 1, et al., Case No. B330837, affirming the trial court’s judgment in California’s first comprehensive groundwater adjudication since the adoption of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
Downey Brand represents the Las Posas Valley Water Rights Coalition, a plaintiff group of landowners in the 40,000-acre Las Posas Valley, located in Ventura County. Groundwater from the Las Posas Groundwater Basin is the primary source of irrigation water for the various high-value crops grown in the Valley, including lemons, avocados, and berries. In 2018, the Coalition filed a complaint to initiate a comprehensive adjudication of the Basin following Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency’s (“Fox Canyon”) imposition of measures to drastically curtail groundwater pumping.
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