SIMI VALLEY : Group Loses Ruling in Lake Dispute

In a reversal of an earlier decision, a state appeals court has ruled that a Simi Valley-area homeowner group waited too long to pursue a legal battle against the state over the draining of a neighborhood lake.

The decision by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura precludes the Sinaloa Lake Owners Assn. from pursuing its $15-million lawsuit over the draining of Sinaloa Lake in 1983.

The association represents homeowners in the Sinaloa Lake neighborhood, an unincorporated county area surrounded by the city of Simi Valley.

The homeowner association filed a federal lawsuit in 1983, alleging that the state Division of Safety of Dams had illegally drained the reservoir in an effort to prevent potential flooding downstream. The homeowners, who live upstream from the lake, contend it was unnecessary to drain the lake to prevent flooding.

The state was dismissed from the lawsuit in 1984, but other defendants, including Ventura County and the city of Simi Valley, remained. After the entire federal lawsuit was dismissed in 1986 because the case had to be litigated in state court first, the homeowners association filed a lawsuit in Superior Court and included the state as a defendant.

Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson dismissed the lawsuit, however, saying the statute of limitations barred the action against the state.

Last September, the appeal court sided with the homeowner association and said the lawsuit could proceed. After granting a rehearing on the issue, however, the appeal court reversed itself and said the homeowner association waited too long to file the Superior Court lawsuit.

The appeal court did not state in its written opinion why it reversed its earlier decision.