Foundation fires back in water rights suit

APPLE VALLEY • Confident in its case, the High Desert Community Foundation is asking a judge to preempt a scheduled jury trial and end a nearly two-year battle over $3.8 million in water rights tied to Apple Valley Country Club.

If that request sounds familiar, that’s because Apple Valley filed its own motion for summary judgment a month ago.

The town first filed suit against the nonprofit foundation in November 2008, a day after agreeing to buy the struggling Apple Valley Country Club. In its suit, the town claims the water rights belong to the country club.

The foundation filed a counter-suit in April 2009, presenting a deed to the water rights that had been separated from the land title and transferred to High Desert Community Foundation five years before. Jeff Caufield, attorney for the foundation with Caufield & James, claims the nonprofit has a “clear chain of title to the water rights on the property dating back nearly 60 years.”

The town claims they’ve found a gap in that chain, according to Mayor Peter Allan.

The town’s argument is that the water rights were part of the massive Mojave Water Adjudication in the 1990s, with title going to the country club.

Caufield said they dispute that claim, arguing that opinions from the Trial Court, Appellate Court and California Supreme Court contradict it.

To read the full story, see Friday's Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.

Brooke Edwards may be reached at (760) 955-5358 or at bedwards@VVDailyPress.com.