Alexander J. Doherty

CURRENT, REPRESENTATIVE WATER LAW-RELATED MATTERS

• Representing investor-owned water utility in litigation over seawater desalination facility in Monterey County.
• Representing owners of thousands of acres of farmland in Madera County with respect to allocation of groundwater under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

REPRESENTATIVE APPELLATE MATTERS

• California-American Water Co. v. Marina Coast Water Dist., 86 Cal.App.5th 1272, 303 Cal.Rptr.3d 227 (2022). Prevailed on behalf of a large water utility in a dispute over its proposed Monterey County desalination plant, obtaining a published decision retracing salient summary judgment procedures and establishing rules concerning compliance with the Government Claims Act for claims predicated on void contracts.
• Golden Gate Land Holdings LLC v. Direct Action Everywhere, 81 Cal.App.5th 82, 296 Cal.Rptr.3d 768 (2022). Obtained a published appellate win confirming California pleading requirements for alleging vicarious liability against a defendant in an anti-SLAPP suit.
• Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013). Researched and drafted a significant section of an amicus brief in a landmark case regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• Behunin v. Superior Court, 9 Cal.App.5th 833, 215 Cal.Rptr.3d 475 (2017). Successfully defeated a claim of attorney-client privilege in the first published decision in California addressing whether attorney-client privilege extends to communications between a litigant and a public relations consultant retained to assist with “litigating in the press.”
• California-American Water Co. v. Marina Coast Water Dist., 2 Cal.App.5th 748, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 439 (2016). Represented a large water utility involved in a water desalination project in Monterey County that collapsed due to a financial conflict of interest of a public official who worked on the project. Alex successfully obtained affirmance of the trial court order declaring agreements implementing the project void ab initio pursuant to Government Code section 1090.
• California-American Water Co. v. Marina Coast Water Dist., 18 Cal.App.5th 571, 227 Cal.Rptr.3d 110 (2017). Successfully obtained affirmance of a trial court order awarding a water utility client over $1 million in contractual attorneys’ fees, despite the underlying contract’s status as void ab initio and unenforceable.