IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS  

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, an Oregon                    )

irrigation district; TULELAKE IRRIGATION DISTRICT,       )

a California irrigation district; KLAMATH DRAINAGE        )

DISTRICT, an Oregon drainage district, POE VALLEY       )

IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT, an Oregon improvement        )

district; SUNNYSIDE IRRIGATION DISTRICT, an                )

Oregon irrigation district; KLAMATH BASIN                         )

IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT, an Oregon improvement        )

district; KLAMATH HILLS DISTRICT                                     )

IMPROVEMENT CO., an Oregon corporation for use         )

or control of water; MIDLAND DISTRICT                              )

IMPROVEMENT CO., an Oregon corporation for use        )

or control of water; MALIN IRRIGATION DISTRICT,            )

an Oregon irrigation district; ENTERPRISE IRRIGATION  ) 

                                                                                                  )        No._______________

DISTRICT, an Oregon irrigation district; PINE                     )          

GROVE IRRIGATION DISTRICT, an Oregon irrigation      )           Judge ____________

district, WESTSIDE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 4,    )

a California improvement district, SHASTA VIEW              )

IRRIGATION  DISTRICT, an Oregon irrigation district,        )

VAN BRIMMER DITCH CO., an Oregon corporation          )

for use  or control of water, FRED A. ROBISON,                 )

ALBERT J. ROBISON, LONNY E. BALEY, MARK R.         )

TROTMAN, BALEY TROTMAN FARMS, a partnership,    )

JAMES L. MOORE, CHERYL L. MOORE, DANIEL           )

G. CHIN, DELORIS D. CHIN, WONG POTATOES,           )

INC., an Oregon corporation, MICHAEL J. BYRNE,           )

DANIEL W. BYRNE, and BYRNE BROTHERS, a              )

partnership,                                                                              )

                                                                                                  )

                                                Plaintiffs,                                  )          

                                                                                                  )

vs.                                                         )          

                                                                                                  )

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,                                         )

                                                                                                  )

                                                Defendant.                               )

___________________________________________)  

MEMORANDUM OF PLAINTIFFS

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT ET AL.

IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR CERTIFICATION OF CLASS  

INTRODUCTION 

            This is an action for just compensation for the taking of a property right (specifically, the right to receive water) in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[1] 

            Plaintiffs include fourteen irrigation districts and thousands of individual landowners.[2]  In order to pursue efficiently their claims for relief, plaintiffs have moved this Court for certification of a class comprised of landowners who possess appurtenant water rights and who receive their water from Upper Klamath Lake through the Link River Dam.[3] Plaintiffs in this putative class have a common basis with every other claim in this action, namely the taking of appurtenant water rights by defendant’s impoundment and diversion of their water in the Upper Klamath Lake .

For the reasons discussed below, certification of this class will promote judicial economy because of the large number of individual claims, as well as satisfy t