Kansas v. Nebraska
United States Supreme Court
135 S. Ct. 1042 (2015)
Kansas (plaintiff) and Nebraska (defendant) had a compact allocating water from the Republican River Basin, and because that water was worth more to Nebraska farmland than to Kansas farmland, Nebraska had a real financial incentive to take more than its share; it ultimately over-consumed by 17%. A special master found Nebraska hadn't set out to over-consume, but had knowingly done so by failing to build a system to stay under its limit despite more than three years of advance warning that the cap was coming, and recommended Kansas recover $3.7 million in actual losses plus $1.8 million in disgorgement of the extra profits Nebraska reaped from its over-consumption (itself only a fraction of Nebraska's total windfall). Both states filed exceptions in the Supreme Court; Nebraska agreed to pay Kansas's actual losses but challenged the disgorgement award.
Whether the Supreme Court may exercise its remedial authority, including ordering disgorgement of profits, to enforce and ensure future compliance with an interstate compact.