In what circumstances will a water district be successful in a civil action against a sanitary district?

Finally, in Kleinecke v. Montecito Water Dist. (1983) 147 Cal.App.3d 240, 195 Cal.Rptr. 58, a plaintiff sued a sanitary district, when he should have sued a water district. The two districts were represented by the same attorney, who filed an answer on behalf of the sanitary district. The five-year statute of limitations passed. Then, plaintiff learned of his mistake and filed a motion under section 473 seeking to amend his complaint to name the water district as a defendant on the ground that he had mistakenly named the sanitary district. The water district argued that plaintiff was seeking not merely to correct a misnomer as to a defendant but to bring in an entirely new party after the statute of limitations had run. The trial court granted the motion to amend. However, it later granted a summary judgment in favor of the water district on the ground of the running of the statute.