This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A judge on Tuesday heard arguments about whether the water utility in polygamous towns pumped water without permission and whether she has the authority to consider the matter.
At the end of a 2 ½ hour hearing Tuesday, Utah 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg told the utility, Twin City Water Works, of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., to file a new brief that elaborates on its argument for dismissing the lawsuit.
"I need to get my arms around the full nature and basis of TCWW's claims," Lindberg said.
The utility's brief is expected in August.
The lawsuit was filed by the United Effort Plan, a trust that owns much of the properties in Hildale and Colorado City, collectively known as Short Creek and home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The United Effort Plan accuses Twin City Water Works of illegally pumping groundwater from property it does not own. The United Effort Plan wants Lindberg to order the utility to repay it for 10 years' worth of pumping and wants Lindberg to appoint a receiver to operate the utility.
The attorneys general of Utah and Arizona favor placing the utility into a receivership and have filed a separate lawsuit in Washington County, Utah, asking for such. They and the United Effort Plan have argued Twin City Water has acted as a slush fund for the FLDS church, citing records seized by law enforcement in Texas and a federal examination that found $1.7 million of Twin City Water money was diverted to the FLDS.
Twin City Water lawyer Jay Zweig on Tuesday pointed to a 1976 easement agreement between Twin City Water and the United Effort Plan. That agreement allowed the utility to "erect, construct, install" water pumps and distribution systems. He also argued any dispute over pumping the water should be heard by a judge in Mohave County, Ariz., because most of the wells are on the Arizona side.
"Dismissing this case for lack of proper venue here is not going to end this dispute," Zweig told Lindberg. "It's just going to place it in the proper court."
Attorneys for the United Effort Plan argued Lindberg had jurisdiction because the water sits below trust property and, under Arizona law, becomes trust property when it is pumped out of the ground.
Bill Walker, an attorney representing the United Effort Plan, also contended Twin City Water did not argue the easement agreement gave it permission to pump until after it could not produce copies of leases it claimed existed.
"Because they can't produce the unrecorded leases, now they have to switch tactics," Walker told the judge.
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