Fernley Votes to Appeal Court Ruling

The Fernley City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to appeal the District Court ruling earlier this month that authorized the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District to enter into a repayment contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 

The council voted 5-0 to authorize Taggart & Taggart, Ltd., the firm that represents the city in water matters, to appeal the ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court. 

After hearing arguments against the contract from attorney David Rigdon of Taggart & Taggart and several Fernley residents in opposition during a hearing on August 2, senior Judge Robert Estes issued a ruling authorizing TCID to enter into the $35 million repayment contract, including assessments that will be levied on water rights holders and most city of Fernley residents. 

Judge Estes entered a written order into the record on August 14 to confirm the oral ruling. Rigdon said the city has 30 days from that date to appeal the ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court. 

“We believe the court was wrong,” Rigdon told the council during Wednesday’s meeting. 

Council member Stan Lau asked Rigdon if the city and its residents got a fair hearing, 

“I don’t believe the court had the evidence in front of them to make the ruling that it did, especially since TCID did not even put on a case,” Rigdon replied. “They didn’t call a single witness to testify as to any of the proceedings that they held to approve the repayment contract, and the judge went ahead and approved it even without them making an affirmative case. From that standpoint, I think there were procedural problems with what happened out there, but the judge did let everybody who objected have a chance to be heard.” 

Rigdon said at least 30 Fernley residents attended the hearing, and several dozen members of the public filed written objections to the court objecting to the validation of the repayment contract.

“The court heard all that and went ahead and validated the order anyway,” he said. “The fact that the court ruled against us is not reflective of their efforts that they made and the objections that they filed.” 

Rigdon said those objections will become part of the record and will help the city on appeal. 

“If we prevail on appeal, the result of that would be a ruling in our favor that would identify the mistakes that the district court made, and they would remand it to the district court for the proceedings consistent with whatever the Supreme Court says,” Rigdon said.

Lau asked if there was any chance that if the appeal was successful, Rigdon could file for a change of venue and have the case heard in Winnemucca or Elko instead of Fallon.

But Rigdon said Estes, the judge who heard the case on Aug. 2, is not from Fallon. “He actually lives in New Orleans, but he’s a former judge from Yerington who is retired but has senior status in Nevada,” he said.