KWTX by Tommy Witherspoon 5/27/2022
In a significant decision governing water rights issues, the Supreme Court of Texas has ruled in a McLennan County case that state district courts – not the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - has jurisdiction over water rights ownership disputes in Texas.
The opinion reverses a split decision by the 10th Court of Appeals in Waco and sends the case back to Waco’s 74th State District Court for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court opinion.
The sole issue on appeal in the case involving Pape Partners, Glenn R. Pape and Kenneth W. Pape vs. DRR Family Properties was whether the TCEQ has jurisdiction to adjudicate conflicting claims to ownership of surface-water rights.
The court ruled such claims must be decided in court, which overturns decisions by 74th State District Judge Gary Coley Jr., who dismissed the case, and Waco’s intermediate appellate court, which affirmed Coley’s order. Chief Justice Tom Gray of the 10th Court of Appeals dissented to the opinion signed off on by former justices Rex Davis and Al Scoggins.
While the case was pending in the Supreme Court, a number of groups, including the TCEQ, the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas Water Conservation Association and the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, filed amicus briefs supporting the Pape’s argument that the issue should be decided in court, not by the TCEQ.
More:
https://www.kwtx.com/2022/05/28/texas-supreme-court-gives-state-district-courts-jurisdiction-over-water-rights-disputes/
