Man claims Las Vegas Water District stole evidence in suit over excessive use fees

The Las Vegas Valley Water District’s voicemail to Sam Castor was brief.

A technician said he was changing Castor’s water meter and that the flow of water at his Summerlin home would be disrupted for about five minutes.

But to Castor, an attorney who has filed a lawsuit against the water district over its controversial excessive use fee structure, that was a flagrant disregard of court rules — and an intentional move to destroy, or “spoil,” evidence.

“The District knew what it was doing,” a court filing from last Wednesday reads. “The District’s actions are akin to a police officer who alleges that a driver was speeding but recalibrates the radar gun before the defense can inspect it, eliminating the only means of verifying its accuracy.”

Castor’s lawyers are asking the court to agree to instruct a jury that the water district stole critical evidence and to compel the agency to reimburse his legal fees.

Water district spokesman Bronson Mack responded to the filing in a brief statement.

“We disagree with the entirety of the lawsuit, as well as the most recent motion and inaccurate spoliation claim,” Mack said. “We expect this matter to be addressed in court.”

What are excessive use charges?

The water district implemented the fee structure in question in 2023, an effort officials said was meant to fine the top 10 percent of water users who weren’t otherwise receptive to conservation outreach.

The backdrop necessitating the district’s fees is dwindling storage in the Colorado River system — a central tenet of water negotiations between seven states that must wrap up before a deadline this month from the Trump administration. Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas provides 90 percent of Southern Nevada’s drinking water.

In practice, the fees have been contentious, with some longtime residents in historic neighborhoods saying they are still hit with tall fines no matter what landscaping changes they make. That even extends to Pat Mulroy, the first-ever general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, who has been openly critical of the fees.

The controversy led to the formation of the Water Fairness Coalition, a growing group of residents led by Las Vegas resident Laura McSwain who have become increasingly disillusioned with restrictive water management.

Lawsuit moving forward

In Castor’s case, he alleges that his bills increased by 500 percent and that the water district failed to establish a required appeal process, violating its service contract to customers and both the Nevada and U.S. constitutions.

It was moved from Clark County District Court to federal court, and a hearing was pending as to whether a judge would grant the water district’s motion to dismiss the case.

The district analyzed the water meter data four days after an employee removed it from Castor’s property, according to Castor’s recent motion, making it “impossible to accurately (or authentically) discover, analyze, or test the specific individual factors that led to the alleged ‘excessive use’ on the Property.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, no response to the motion had been filed on the federal court’s website. Either way the court rules on the motion, Castor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he’s committed to seeing the case through — and that he feels it’ll be “a slam dunk.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.