SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Judge Stephen Acquisto of the Sacramento County Superior Court rejected an attempt by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to deprive two million residents of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of their choice of legal representation in challenges to DWR’s efforts to construct a massive water conveyance tunnel and industrial facilities in the heart of the Delta National Heritage Area. The Sacramento law firm of Somach Simmons & Dunn (SSD) represents the County of Sacramento, Sacramento County Water Agency, Sacramento Area Sewer District, and City of Stockton in ongoing litigation challenging DWR’s plans to divert flows from the Sacramento River and route it around the Delta to its State Water Project contractors in the Silicon Valley, Central Valley, and Southern California.

DWR filed a motion to disqualify SSD based on a claim of conflict of interest concerning an SSD attorney who years prior had provided legal services to DWR on another matter at another law firm. The court rejected DWR’s arguments that the two representations were substantially related and held that there was no substantial legal or factual relationship.

The ruling comes almost a year after DWR first alleged the conflict of interest in a separate ongoing evidentiary hearing before the State Water Resources Control Board regarding the Delta tunnel project, but then DWR voluntarily waived its right to continue asserting the conflict in that matter. After that waiver, DWR waited over eight months before filing its motion to disqualify in court.

SSD’s managing shareholder Theresa Barfield said, “We are grateful the court rejected DWR’s misguided effort to silence some of its most vocal opponents by going after their lawyers, which has resulted in a substantial waste of public and private resources. SSD will continue to fight for its clients and their challenges to DWR’s Delta tunnel project.”

Somach Simmons & Dunn is a midsize environmental and water law firm, with offices in California, Colorado, and the District of Columbia. The firm’s attorneys represent public and private sector clients across a range of water, air, and land disciplines, including litigation, transactional, and public policy matters.