Cable Huston Prevails on Appeal for EWEB

Wed 4 Apr, 2018 / by Cable Huston / Verdicts & Cases

Congratulations to Cable Huston client Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) on a recent victory before the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The case involved a dispute between EWEB and a local property owner regarding the scope of EWEB’s rights to access the owner’s property in order to maintain a fish return channel located along the McKenzie River. The fish return channel is part of a system designed by EWEB to protect threatened salmon species and other fish from migrating upstream into EWEB’s hydroelectric facilities. Cable Huston’s litigation team filed suit against the property owner in Lane County Circuit Court and obtained declaratory relief confirming EWEB’s board rights to access and maintain the return channel under an easement granted to EWEB in the 1960s. Cable Huston also obtained an injunction preventing the landowner from interfering with EWEB’s permitting process by, for example, refusing to sign permit applications required by federal and state agencies for EWEB to complete work on the channel.

On March 14, 2018, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed EWEB’s judgment in all respects in a published decision. See Eugene Water & Electric Board v. Miller, 290 Or App 721 (2018). Cable Huston partner Jon Monson acted as the firm’s lead litigation and appellate counsel on the appeal, assisted by partner Jim Kincaid and associate Nikki Abercrombie.