COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS HOLDS THAT TERMINATION OF WATER DELIVERIES DOES NOT RESULT IN A 'TAKING'

摘要

Klamath Irrigation District v. United States, 67 Fed. Cl. 504 (2005), interlocutory appeal denied, 69 Fed. Cl. 160 (2005), represents yet another judicial effort to define the circumstances in which government regulation of water rights does or does not constitute a "taking" of property under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case was brought by various private parties and irrigation districts in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon and California that receive water from the Klamath Project, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The case resulted from the temporary termination of water deliveries to the plaintiffs in 2001 to ensure that project operations did not jeopardize the continued existence of listed species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). After an aborted attempt to obtain injunctive relief in U.S. District Court, the plaintiffs filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims, seeking compensation for water rights allegedly "taken" by the termination of deliveries. A claim for damages for breach of contract was added later. The current decision resulted from a motion for summary judgment on the takings claim.