Oroville Dam: Judge to determine where cases will be heard (CPM represents plaintiffs)

A Butte County Superior Court judge will determine where lawsuits against the state Department of Water Resources for the Oroville Dam crisis will be considered in a written ruling.

This comes as Judge Tamara Mosbarger heard arguments on Friday from plaintiffs and the defendant.

Lawyers representing DWR are trying to get court proceedings moved from Butte County to Sacramento. They said that proceedings here would be biased and continue to garner press coverage and that the court, because of its size, could be overwhelmed by the volume of these cases.

Randy Gimple of Carlson, Calladine and Peterson, LLP of San Francisco is lead attorney for the department.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said in response that it would be a burden on the victims, most of whom live in Butte County, for court proceedings to take place in Sacramento. They added that there were would be plenty of media attention there, too.

Plaintiffs include: the City of Oroville; Goose Club Farms North, LLC; Akers Ranch; JEM Farms, LP;Francis Bechtel and the South Feather Water and Power Agency. The lead attorney representing plaintiffs is Adam Shapiro, with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP out of Burlingame.

The next step after the judge issues a ruling will be a case management conference, which will be a public proceeding, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs... (To read the entire article, please click HERE)