State Supreme Court upholds dismissal of water suit against DNR
By Russ Pankonin
Johnson Publications
In an opinion released Friday, March 10, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the district court dismissal of two water suits brought against the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Water users in the Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District (FCID) lost their appeal of the dismissal of the suits by Furnas County District Court Judge James E. Doyle IV in May 2016.
The suits were filed by four water users in the FCID as a class action suit—one for 2013 and one for 2014.
The complaints claimed the surface water users in the district were harmed when DNR issued closing notices on river flows for compact compliance purposes in 2013 and 2014.
In their appeal, they contended their water rights were superior to those of the Republican River Basin Compact.