One week before the court date, Calloway made a final settlement approach. This time, the number was within a reasonable range of Howard Finch’s figure. Patricia presented it to me without recommendation. She said the choice was mine. I could settle and resolve it privately, or I could go to court and let the record become fully public and permanent. I thought about it for one evening. Then I called Patricia and told her we were going to court.
The courtroom was smaller than I expected. Wood paneling, fluorescent lighting, rows of fixed seats behind the bar. Patricia and I sat at the plaintiff’s table with both binder volumes stacked neatly to one side. Calloway and Thorne sat across from us. Thorne wore a suit that looked recently purchased. He sat straight and kept his expression composed, but his hands on the table were not completely still.
The judge was a woman named Honorable Claire Sutton. She had been on the county bench for sixteen years. Patricia had appeared before her twice previously. She described her as methodical, patient, and intolerant of anything that wasted her time. Judge Sutton opened proceedings and asked both sides to summarize their positions.
Patricia went first. She was concise. She stated that Dale Harmon owned the land. The well was on that land. No easement existed. The HOA had drawn water without authorization for eleven years. Their own documents proved they knew. We were seeking damages and injunctive relief. Calloway followed. He argued implied easement through continuous long-term use. He argued community reliance and good faith. He argued that disrupting established water infrastructure would cause disproportionate harm.
Judge Sutton listened to both without expression. Then she asked Calloway one question. She asked him to identify the specific recorded document establishing the HOA’s legal right to access the well. Calloway said the right had been established through use rather than recording. Judge Sutton wrote something on her notepad and said nothing further. That exchange lasted ninety seconds. It told me everything about how the day was going to go.
Gerald testified first. He walked the court through the survey with his scaled boundary diagram as a visual exhibit. He confirmed the wellhead coordinates. He confirmed the pipe crossing. He confirmed no easement markers existed anywhere along the boundary. Calloway’s cross-examination lasted four minutes. He had nothing to challenge in Gerald’s methodology.
Marcus Webb followed. He presented his flow data chart. Eighteen thousand gallons per day. He walked through his methodology clearly. Calloway tried to challenge the measurement duration, seventy-two hours, as insufficient for a reliable estimate. Marcus explained that industry standard for baseline flow measurement was forty-eight hours minimum and that his seventy-two-hour reading was conservative. Judge Sutton asked Marcus if the daily figure could reasonably vary significantly. Marcus said variation would be minimal given consistent aquifer pressure. She nodded and wrote on her notepad again.
Howard Finch took the stand after lunch. Patricia walked him through the appraisal methodology carefully. He explained water-rights valuation. He explained how he had applied county rates to the documented volume over the eleven-year period. He stated his final figure clearly and without hesitation. Calloway challenged his rate assumptions on cross-examination. Howard had anticipated every challenge. He had alternative calculations using three different rate methodologies. All three produced figures within fifteen percent of each other. His number held.