Hatfield v. Union Public Utility Dist. CA3

Filed 4/1/25 Hatfield v. Union Public Utility Dist. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Calaveras) ----

MICHAEL HATFIELD, C100440

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. 23CV46786)

v.

UNION PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT,

Defendant and Respondent.

Union Public Utility District (the District) provides water service to property owners within its boundaries. It also charges several fees for this service. Michael Hatfield is a District customer who believes one of these fees—which the District uses to support a joint powers authority—is too high. After he sued over this fee, the District demurred. It argued that it adopted the challenged fee in a 2022 resolution. It then argued that because Hatfield failed to timely challenge this resolution, he could not proceed with his claim here. The trial court agreed, found Hatfield’s suit untimely, and entered a judgment of dismissal.

1

On Hatfield’s appeal, we reverse. The underlying factual premise for the District’s demurrer (and the trial court’s ruling) is that the District adopted the challenged fee in a 2022 resolution—which Hatfield failed to timely challenge. That factual premise, however, is wrong. The District did not adopt the challenged fee in this resolution. Because the trial court’s ruling lacks evidentiary support, we will reverse the judgment of dismissal. BACKGROUND I Factual Background Because we consider this matter at the demurrer stage, we assume the truth of all properly pleaded material allegations in Hatfield’s complaint. (Moore v. Regents of University of California (1990) 51 Cal.3d 120, 125.) The District charges its customers several distinct fees for water service. It charges customers a monthly service fee and a water usage fee—which are set in the District’s water rate schedule. It also charges customers a monthly fee to support a joint powers authority, the Utica Water and Power Authority (UWPA), that provides water to the District. This latter fee is called the UWPA fee. In a November 2016 resolution (the 2016 Resolution), the District adopted a “five year rate schedule” for its UWPA fee that contemplated annual fee adjustments. Over the following five years, the District periodically adjusted its UWPA fee. It made its last rate adjustment to take effect on July 1, 2020, setting the UWPA fee at $18 per month. Following the rate schedule’s expiration in November 2021, the District continued charging customers a UWPA fee of $18 per month. In late 2022, the District considered changing its fees for water service. In a notice to its customers, the District proposed adopting a new water rate schedule that would raise service fees and water usage fees. It also proposed changing its method for assessing the UWPA fee. It based its proposals in large part on a 2022 water rate study