Swalley Wins Federal Piping Case
On February 12th U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken provided a final judgment in case Civ. No. 04-1721-AA, Swalley Irrigation District, Plaintiff, v. Gary Clement Alvis, et al. (about 160 property owners owning property along the Swalley Main Canal in Bend OR to be piped).
The final judgment refers to the court's opinions of March 1, 2006 (district has a right to modernize), November 16, 2006 (historical easements are confirmed and effective) and March 23, 2007 (dismissal of defendants). These items are available from the federal court or Swalley upon request).
This case was filed in the federal court as a declaration, the district asking the question of the court as to whether it had the right to pipe its Main Canal (specifically 5.1 miles in mostly urban area) under its 1891 federal right-of-way (ROW). The court decided that the district could pipe using it's historical easement as authority.