Legal

Should nature be able to take you to court?

Last February, the town of Shapleigh, Maine, population 2,326, passed an unusual ordinance. Like nearby towns, Shapleigh sought to protect its aquifers from the Nestle Corporation, which draws heavily on the region for its Poland Spring bottled water. Some Maine towns had acquiesced, others had protested, and one was locked in a protracted legal battle.

MCCLOUD, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The McCloud Watershed Council and California Trout, who, along with Trout Unlimited, comprise the Protect Our Waters Coalition, announced today that they have engaged the national law and consulting firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. The firm will represent the Coalition in their fight to safeguard the rights and quality of life for residents of McCloud, California and beyond who would be affected by operation of a planned Nestle Waters North America water bottling plant in the Mt. Shasta area.

In fall of 2007, Attorney at law Donald B. Mooney issued a Memorandum to the MWC expressing his legal opinion concerning the authority of the McCloud Community Services District regarding Nestle's Proposed Water Bottling Facility. This insight is very valuable, as it puts into perspective the legal position the MCSD is in at this point, based on the Third District Court of Appeals ruling.

You can read it here.

Without comment, the California Supreme Court declined to review a January 2007 Third
Appellate Court decision that reinstated the contract between Nestle and the McCloud
Community Services District for Nestle to build a water bottling plant on the outskirts of the
town.
The Appellate Court decision overturned a 2005 ruling by Siskiyou County Superior Court Judge
Roger Kosel who found the contract had violated CEQA in that a CEQA review should have
been completed prior to an agreement with Nestle.
Nestle and the MCSD had been sued by a local citizens group, Concerned McCloud Citizens,

Concerned McCloud Citizens have announced their intention to appeal to the California
Supreme Court a January 2007 Third District Appeal Court’s decision reinstating the
contract between Nestle and the McCloud Community Services District.

The contract to build a water bottling plant in McCloud was overturned in 2005 by
Siskiyou County Superior Court judge Roger Kosel. Nestle appealed the decision to the
Supreme Court which declined to review the case. Nestle’s appeal to the Third District
court overturned Kosel’s decision earlier this year.