If a comprehensive adjudication of groundwater rights under Code of Civil Procedure section 833 is filed in the superior court of a county that overlies any portion of the groundwater basin at issue, the presiding judge of that court must:
(1) Submit a request for judicial assignment to the Temporary Assigned Judges Program; and
(2) Indicate that the request is for “Comprehensive groundwater adjudication assignment under Code of Civil Procedure section 838(a)(1).”
Rule 3.404 adopted effective January 1, 2026.
Advisory Committee Comment
Under Code of Civil Procedure section 838(a)(1), a judge of a superior court of a county that overlies all or any portion of the groundwater basin at issue in the comprehensive adjudication is disqualified, and the Chair of the Judicial Council must assign a judge to preside over the proceedings. In such circumstances, only a presiding judge may submit a request to the Chair for assignment of a new judge. If the complaint is filed in the superior court of a county not overlying any portion of the groundwater basin at issue, the judges of that court are not disqualified under section 838(a)(1), and a presiding judge has no basis to request that the Chair of the Judicial Council assign a judge to preside in the action under that section. The definitions in Code of Civil Procedure section 832 apply to this rule.
A comprehensive adjudication of groundwater rights is presumed to be a “complex case” under rule 3.400 of the California Rules of Court, but because the underlying statutes differ concerning assignment of judges, the rules for assignment of judges in Coordination of Complex Actions (title 3, division 4, chapter 7) do not apply to such adjudications.