Wyoming Landowners’ Flooding Claims Against Reservoir Revived

A group of Wyoming landowners won reinstatement of their claims against the operator of a water reservoir for flooding their properties after the Tenth Circuit held that the operator exceeded the boundaries of a right-of-way approved under federal law more than a century ago.

Pioneer Canal-Lake Hattie Irrigation District exceeded the boundaries on a 1909 map of the proposed reservoir submitted for approval to the Department of Interior by allowing water to reach the landowners’ properties, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said Dec. 13.

The landowners may then pursue their claims related to flooding from the ...