Court grants IID’s petition to disqualify judge

IMPERIAL – The next local phase of the ongoing court battle between Imperial Irrigation District and farmer Michael Abatti will have a new judge presiding.

That much was decided Tuesday, when the Fourth District Court of Appeal granted IID’s petition for a writ of mandate against the trial court in the Mike Abatti v. IID litigation. The writ directs Imperial County Superior Court Judge Brooks Anderholt to enter a new order disqualifying himself from the case.

Anderholt is the judge who in 2017 ruled in favor of Abatti in striking down IID’s Equitable Distribution Plan and rendered an opinion that linked local water rights to land ownership.

In July, the appellate court reversed Anderholt’s ruling on water rights and IID’s ability to manage water distribution while upholding the verdict on the EDP.

“The most difficult part of this case, the water- rights question has been resolved in the district’s favor,” IID General Counsel Frank Oswalt said. “What remains is the separate matter of costs and attorneys’ fees which is, as IID argued and the court of appeal has agreed, a new trial. Now, as a result of this ruling, there will be a new judge hearing it.”

Citing instances of prejudice in the administrative record, IID wanted Anderholt off the case for future court actions. Attorneys for IID filed the petition for the writ of mandate on Oct. 23 after Anderholt declined to recuse himself.

Finding that Judge Anderholt erred when he denied the preemptory challenge IID filed against him, to which it was entitled by law, the court observed that the relief it was granting was appropriate since, “the applicable law is settled, the district is clearly entitled to relief [ and] disqualification issues require prompt resolution.”

Oswalt said that he had been confident in the petition the district filed with the appellate court, and was gratified by its ruling.

“The court of appeal’s order to Judge Anderholt commanding that he remove himself from the Abatti litigation affirms the belief that this judge demonstrated a bias against the Imperial Irrigation District,” added IID Board President Norma Galindo. “That bias led him to make a number of incorrect decisions that the court of appeal identified in their opinion. With a new judge, the IID stands a better chance of a fair outcome.”