  |
|
|
On November 20, 2007 Judge Zilly signed and filed the Order and Judgment in this case. The judge approved the settlement agreement as it was filed on November 13, 2007 with amendments required by the court. This concludes the litigation at the district court.
In January 2003, the United States, in its own right and on behalf of the Lummi Indian Nation, commenced suit in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington against landowners who owned wells on a portion of the Lummi Reservation and against the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). The Lummi Indian Nation intervened in the suit as a plaintiff, and the Court ordered the plaintiffs to join all non-Lummi landowners within the litigation area. The plaintiffs ask for declaratory and injunctive relief concerning the Lummi Indian Nation’s right to groundwater within the litigation area.
On November 2, 2007 the Court filed an Order Conditionally Approving Settlement Agreement and a Draft Judgment and Order. The Court ordered the Settling parties to file an amended Settlement Agreement by November 13, 2007.
The Settling Parties filed a Notice of Filing, along with the revised Settlement Agreement and all exhibits, on November 13, 2007.
The Court set November 16, 2007 as the new noting date for the Motion to Approve Settlement Agreement.
On August 21, 2007 the Court ordered that all supplemental materials relating to the Motion to Approve Settlement be filed with the Court on or before September 14, 2007. The Court set the noting date (the earliest date on which the Court could decide the Motion to Approve Settlement) for September 14, 2007. The Settling Parties filed corrections to the Settlement Agreement with the Court on September 12, 2007.
The Settling Parties, who include the United States, the Lummi Nation, the Washington Department of Ecology, Whatcom County, and several water associations and individual defendants, on November 2, 2006 filed with the Court a signed Settlement Agreement and proposed Judgment and Order. The proposed Judgment and Order, if approved and entered by the Court, would end the case as to all parties to this litigation.
The Settling Parties also filed with the Court a joint motion to approve the settlement and enter the proposed judgment and order (Approval Motion), a joint motion for a special process to consider the Approval Motion (Process Motion), and a proposed Process Order, with an attached Notice of Proposed Settlement to be published if the Court enters the Process Order. The Process Order, if entered, would establish a deadline of December 15, 2006 for parties who oppose the Approval Motion (and object to the Settlement and proposed Judgment and Order) to file their objections with the Court. The Process Order would also set a number of requirements concerning any filed objections.
The following documents may be viewed and downloaded:
The trial date in June, 2006 was vacated by the Court after counsel for the United States, Lummi Indian Nation, Washington Department of Ecology, private water companies represented by Tim Slater, and individual defendants represented by Gene Knapp notified the Court that they had reached a settlement which they could recommend to their clients.
A status conference was held before Judge Thomas S. Zilly on July 25, 2006. The Court's Minute Entry regarding this conference states in relevant part:
"The Court hears from counsel and individual defendants re settlement. Another hearing will be scheduled once a settlement proposal has been submitted to the Court for review. Briefs may be filed in support of the settlement proposal. Counsel will coordinate with the clerk to notify all parties of the proposed settlement and any hearing to consider the reasonableness of the proposal."
The represented parties to this case scheduled dates in 2005 for the first mediation meetings in this phase of the case. The mediator was Owen Olpin.
The meetings were open to anyone who was then a party to the litigation or who was an attorney representing any such party. The parties scheduled further meetings after the initial meetings. The dates for those meetings were posted to this site when scheduled.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
