Section § 842

Explanation

[tl translation of: This law outlines the disclosure requirements for parties involved in a comprehensive adjudication related to groundwater rights. Parties must share detailed information within six months of appearing in court, such as their water usage, water rights, well locations, and future claims on water use. They must also provide contact details for people who can back up these disclosures. The Judicial Council may create a standard form to help ensure consistency. Disclosures need to be updated if new information comes to light, or if the party starts extracting more groundwater. Disclosures should be submitted electronically if possible, and they must be verified as true and accurate under penalty of perjury. Courts can enforce these requirements if necessary.]

(a)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a) [tl translation of: Except as otherwise stipulated by the parties or ordered by the court, within six months of appearing in a comprehensive adjudication, a party shall serve on the other parties and the special master, if one is appointed, an initial disclosure that includes all of the following information:]
(1)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(1) [tl translation of: The name, address, telephone number, and email address of the party and, if applicable, the party’s attorney.]
(2)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(2) [tl translation of: The quantity of any groundwater extracted from the basin by the party and the method of measurement used by the party or the party’s predecessor in interest for each of the previous 10 years preceding the filing of the complaint.]
(3)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(3) [tl translation of: The type of water right or rights claimed by the party for the extraction of groundwater.]
(4)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(4) [tl translation of: A general description of the purpose to which the groundwater has been put.]
(5)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(5) [tl translation of: The location of each well or other source through which groundwater has been extracted.]
(6)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(6) [tl translation of: The area in which the groundwater has been used.]
(7)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(7) [tl translation of: Any claims for increased or future use of groundwater.]
(8)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(8) [tl translation of: The quantity of any beneficial use of any alternative water use that the party claims as its use of groundwater under any applicable law, including, but not limited to, Section 1005.1, 1005.2, or 1005.4 of the Water Code.]
(9)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(9) [tl translation of: Identification of all surface water rights and contracts that the party claims provides the basis for its water right claims in the comprehensive adjudication.]
(10)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(10) [tl translation of: The quantity of any replenishment of water to the basin that augmented the basin’s native water supply, resulting from the intentional storage of imported or non-native water in the basin, managed recharge of surface water, or return flows resulting from the use of imported water or non-native water on lands overlying the basin by the party, or the party’s representative or agent, during each of the 10 calendar years immediately preceding the filing of the complaint.]
(11)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(11) [tl translation of: The names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of all persons possessing information that supports the party’s disclosures.]
(12)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(a)(12) [tl translation of: Any other facts that tend to prove the party’s claimed water right.]
(b)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(b) [tl translation of: The Judicial Council may develop a form for initial disclosures made pursuant to subdivision (a) to facilitate the consistent, independent, impartial, and accessible administration of comprehensive adjudications. The Judicial Council may coordinate with the department in developing the form.]
(c)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(c) [tl translation of: A party shall make its initial disclosures based on the information then reasonably available to it. A party is not excused from making its initial disclosures because it has not fully investigated the case, because it challenges the sufficiency of another party’s disclosures, or because another party has not made its disclosures.]
(d)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(d) [tl translation of: A party that has made its initial disclosures, as described in subdivision (a), or that has responded to another party’s discovery request, shall supplement or correct a disclosure or response in all of the following situations:]
(1)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(d)(1) [tl translation of: In a timely manner if the party learns that in some material respect the disclosure or response is incomplete or incorrect and the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the disclosure or discovery process.]
(2)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(d)(2) [tl translation of: If the party extracts groundwater from the basin after the complaint is filed. A supplement filed pursuant to this paragraph shall report the quantity of water extracted and be filed within 90 days after the end of the calendar year.]
(3)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(d)(3) [tl translation of: As ordered by the court.]
(e)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(e) [tl translation of: To the greatest extent possible, a party shall serve his or her initial disclosures electronically. If it is not possible for the party to serve his or her disclosures electronically, he or she shall serve the disclosures in an electronic format saved on a portable storage media device such as a compact disc or flash drive.]
(f)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(f) [tl translation of: A party’s obligations under this section may be enforced by a court on its own motion or the motion of a party to compel disclosure.]
(g)CA Pamamaraan Sibil Code § 842(g) [tl translation of: A party’s disclosures under this section shall be verified under penalty of perjury as being true and correct to the best of the party’s knowledge.]