Court rules in water district’s favor

The class action lawsuit against the Ramona Municipal Water District will not move forward as a judge has ruled in the district’s favor in Phase 1 of the trial.

The suit, filed in 2014, on behalf of a commercial property owner, claimed that RMWD’s method of charging sewer fees based on a parcel’s assigned equivalent dwelling units (EDU) bears no rational relationship to a parcel’s actual wastewater use and violates Proposition 218.

The court granted the water district’s request to bifurcate the case and first consider whether the plaintiffs protested the fees at water board meetings or exhausted their administrative remedies before filing the suit, and whether they then have standing in court.

The lead plaintiff, Eugene Plantier, was told in April 2012 that he would have to pay approximately $33,000 to bring his building at 109 10th St., which he leases to Marisco Mar De Cortez restaurant, into compliance for sewer EDUs.

Phase 1 of the trial began Monday morning with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Allison Goddard, reviewing Plantier’s requests for meetings with district staff and the board. In late 2013, the board heard Plantier’s complaints but denied any relief from the $33,000 charge.

The attorney representing the water district, in his opening statements, focused on the Prop 218 public hearings held each year for water and wastewater rate increases before the fiscal year budget is passed. Attorney John Alessio said Plantier and plaintiffs Orrin Day and George Newman did not attend the hearings. Goddard said the hearings were not about the method of charging the fees but the rate increases.

Phase 1 of the trial concluded Tuesday morning with Judge Timothy Taylor ruling in the district’s favor.