Orange County Water Dist. v. City of Colton

In Orange County Water Dist. v. City of Colton (1964) 226 Cal. App. 2d 642, 649 38 Cal. Rptr. 286 (Colton), the trial court had entered a judgment adjudicating the litigants' prescriptive water rights, and had reserved jurisdiction to fix, from time to time, the quantity of water required for beneficial use. (Colton, supra, 226 Cal. App. 2d at pp. 646-647.) Subsequently, the City of Colton sought modification of the judgment to obtain certain additional water rights from overlying landowners. ( Id. at pp. 644-645.) In affirming the trial court's denial of the modification, the court held that "in the making of this motion for modification appellant has sought to inject into the action a new issue, involving the determination of a new and different water right than those which were before the court for determination in the action as it was brought and considered by the court at the time of trial." ( Id. at p. 649.) Thus: "even though the court retained jurisdiction for broad purposes in connection with adjustment of such included issues as might arise subsequent to the entry of the judgment, it did not, nor could it have retained jurisdiction to pass upon new and different issues based upon after-acquired rights." (Ibid.)