California Federal Judge: Water Right Reserved, But Land Act Extinguished Claim

Mealey's (June 16, 2015, 3:55 PM EDT) -- RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge in California on March 20 granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the United States’ claim that the government implicitly reserved appurtenant water sources, including underlying groundwater, when it created the tribe’s reservation, but granted the defendants partial summary judgment on the tribe’s aboriginal title claims, saying a land act effectively extinguished any such right (Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians v. Coachella Valley Water District, et al., No. 13-883, C.D. Calif.)....

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