Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
C

Casitas Municipal Water District v. United States

543 F.3d 1276 (2008)

From our private database of 46,400+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Casitas Municipal Water District v. United States

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
543 F.3d 1276 (2008)

  • Written by Robert Cane, JD

Facts

The Casitas Municipal Water District (Casitas) (plaintiff) operated the infrastructure to supply water to users in Ventura County, California. Casitas had a contractual right to divert and use a certain amount of water from a nearby river. In 1997, the National Marine Fisheries Service (the service) listed the steelhead trout as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The United States Bureau of Reclamation received a biological opinion from the service as required by the Endangered Species Act to ensure that the operations of Casitas did not illegally take any trout. The biological opinion indicated that Casitas must construct a fish-ladder facility and divert water from its operations to the fish ladder to avoid taking trout. The Bureau of Reclamation directed Casitas to comply with the biological opinion. Casitas complied under protest and filed suit against the United States (defendant), arguing that the obligation to build a fish ladder and to divert water to it was a compensable taking under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The lower court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the government, finding that the regulatory-takings standard, not the physical-takings standard, applied to the claim by Casitas. Casitas appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Moore, J.)

Dissent (Mayer, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 824,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 824,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 824,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,400 briefs - keyed to 989 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Natural Resources

Key Terms