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..'~ r.. Q ~. '..., 90 1,.'; ~ METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT Supreme Court of the State of California on September 23, 1948. As a result of this decision the District will recover substantial sums by way of interest on moneys deposited in court as a prerequisite to obtaining immediate possession of lands being con- demned in Riverside County. Steps to determine the exact amounts due and to obtain payment are pending. TAxES-Taxes levied by the Metropolitan Water District are collected through the county tax collector's office. In instances in which taxpayers have sued to recover taxes alleged to have been collected unlawfully by the county, the District frequently is made a party. Litigation of this character is handled by the county counsel's office, with the cooperation of the District's legal staff. Actions which had been filed on behalf of Defense Plant Cor- poration or its successor Reconstruction Finance Corporation against the County of Los Angeles and other taxing agencies in that county, including the District, to recover taxes paid under protest. were settled during the fiscal year covered by this report. Plaintiff asserted that machinery and equipment had been assessed incor- rectly as fixtures or improvements on land and hence were taxcd as real property within the consent granted by Congress to local taxation of rea] property owued by plaintiff, whereas the items should have been assessed as personal property which was exempt from local taxation. Di:-5crimination also Wa~ charged on the ground that similar machinery and equipment in private ownership had been assessed and taxed as personal propert.\'. thereby relieving it from the Los Ange]es County Flood Control District taxes. Under the leadership of the county counsel, the forty-seven suits. in which recovery of the aggregate sum of $4,668,635.49 was sought, were settled for a total refund of $100,000. Of the aggregate sum sought to be recovered by plaintiff the District's portion amounted to $302,097.19, and the District's portion of the sum of $100,000 refunded in settlement amounted to $6.686.82. CLAIMS INVOLVING THE UNITED STATES-Representatives of the District legal staff assisted in the preparation of evidence and at- tended hearings in the Federal District Court in the case of United States v. Knapp, et a!., an action brought by the United States to condemn t.wo parcels of land in the Parker reservoir area, not pre- viously acquired. The amounts properly recovered against the United States in this proceeding will be reimbursable by the District under its contract with the United States for the construction of Parker Dam.