DEVILS LAKE (AP) - One of landowners who sued over Devils Lake flooding says the case is being appealed to the state Supreme Court, and might go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It's always been a firm understanding in this country that you can't take land away from people without paying for it," Benson County farmer Barry Cox said.

Northeast District Judge Richard Geiger dismissed an eight-year-old lawsuit filed by Cox and other Devils Lake-area residents whose property was flooded. The landowners said drainage projects contributed to the flooding of their land. They sued the state Water Commission and nine water resource districts in 1999.

Geiger dismissed local water boards as defendants last year, and dismissed the lawsuit in October this year.

State Water Commission Engineer Dale Frink said he was not surprised by decision to appeal.

"It's certainly their choice. We kind of expected it," Frink said Monday. He declined further comment.

The state said more than a decade of wet weather in the region was the main factor in Devils Lake's record rise. Geiger said property that was part of the lawsuit once was part of the lake bed.