On May 4, the Nevada Supreme Court threw out the third and final attempt by Virgin Valley Water District Board to avoid going to trial in a rate-setting dispute.
This article updates four years of litigation disputing the elected water boards’ effort to set public water rates at whatever amount they want, whenever they wish, and however, they want.
In May 2018, the owners of Paradise Canyon (DBA as the Wolf Creek Golf Course) filed a civil suit (A-18-774539-B) against the VVWDB as they sought to increase their irrigation water rates by 500 %.
And for four years VVWDB attorney Jedidiah (Bo) Bingham’s, at public expense, attempted and failed to defend their rate-setting practice before Las Vegas District Court Judge Timothy Williams.
After losing so many times, on Monday, September 13, 2021, Bingham brought in Las Vegas Attorney Mark Hutchison to petition the Nevada Supreme Court and tell the Justices that Judge Williams had no business overruling him. And instruct the Supreme Court that The Water District had the unrestricted right to set rates as they like.
Hutchison tried three times to get the Nevada Supreme Court to rule that the Water Board could do whatever they want, whenever want and however they want when it comes to setting public water rates.
But on May 4th, the full court denied Hutchison’s last motion motions as pictured below.
The Virgin Valley Water Board uses public funds to pay for these legal shenanigans.
But paying to lose does not bother the board. During a March 2022 budget meeting, board member Richard Bowler asked Bingham if $1.1 million for 2023 was realistic to cover the needs in the [Paradise Canyon] case. “One thing I don’t want to do is handcuff anybody on it,” Bowler said. “I think we have got to go to the bone on this [rate setting], to be honest.”
Board member John Burros said, “I wish that we had a lot of the public here to understand that the Wolf Creek [Paradise Canyon] litigation has hugely impacted their rates.”
Burros was not talking about the use of public funds to pay their attorneys for losing motions. He tried to put the blame on the owners of Paradise Canyon saying: “And we are only talking about it because of the action of that one company that wants preferential rates against everybody else paying for water.”
The owners of Paradise Canyon have legitimately sought to raise the rate-setting issue to the public attention, thereby potentially reducing rates for all concerned. And those owners sought to keep the litigation in line with the problem and quickly go to a jury. But that was not Bingham’s plan as outlined in the pictures above.
Burros and the entire Board bear responsibility for the litigation costs. When the VVWDB hired Bingham in June 2009, he admitted that his law firm (Bingham, Snow, and Caldwell) lacked water law experience.
Informed sources suggest that Plaintiff’s costs are about half of the cost to the owners of Paradise canyon. Only three attorneys staff the winning team for the owners of Paradise Canyon. They include:
- Jeffrey R. Sylvester, lead
- Matthew. Kneeland
- Kelly L. Schmitt
But Bingham needs an expensive crew of seven to support his losing approach to litigation. They are:
- Robert D. Sweetin, City of mesquite
- D. R. Waite, Mesquite Irrigation Company
- Erik J. Foley, Mesquite Irrigation Company
- Mark A. Hutchison, for VVWD
- Clifford D., Gravett, for VVWD
- Travis Dunsmoor, for VVWD
- Stewart C. Fitts, for VWD
While a judge seldom awards attorney fees to argue substantive issues, they may assign a cost against attorneys engaging in legal frivolity. The owners of Paradise Canyon could collect fees attributed to the costs required to counter Bingham and Hutchison’s losing motions. Therefore, if the case, as the Board seems to want, draws on for another year, the public prices could rise from $4.4 to $5.5 plus a portion of the Plaintiff’s costs, say 1.1 million to a total public expense of 6.6 million.
The way Bingham-Hutchison and others are proceeding makes it highly probable that the VVWDB will provide irrigation water free to the owners of Paradise Canyon for many years to come while ratepayers see rate increases on their water bills.
Note: In this year’s election cycle, Bowler wants another term on the water board, while his brother Joey Bowler wants a seat on the Mesquite City Council.
