2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 85. Water Use › Chapter 7. Irrigation Districts › Part 18. Alteration and Determination of District Acreage › 85-7-1811. Procedure to correct errors and omissions in orders or decrees

85-7-1811. Procedure to correct errors and omissions in orders or decrees.
(1) The district court retains jurisdiction of any petition presented to establish an irrigation district or to enlarge and increase its boundaries or to exclude land from the district for the purpose of correcting any omissions, defects, or errors in the proceedings of the court. The court may correct and, if necessary, amend the order of the district court establishing the district, any order extending the boundaries of the district, or any order excluding lands from the district, including the description of lands included or intended to be included in the district or excluded from the district or intended to be excluded, the boundaries of the divisions into which it is divided, and any other matter that is before the court on the application to create the district, to enlarge or extend its boundaries, or to exclude lands from the district. The court may, on application of the board of commissioners of the district, correct and amend the terms of any order or judgment of the court so that it conforms to the provisions of the statute under the authority of which the order was made. The board of commissioners of any district may adopt a resolution directing its president and secretary to prepare, execute, and file with the clerk of the district court a petition that sets forth the following matters:
(a) the name of the district and a reference to the order in which the defect, error, omission, errors in description of lands included or excluded, or departure from the statute occurred;
(b) a statement of the defects, errors, omissions, irregularities, errors in description of lands included or excluded, or variance from the statutory requirements; and
(c) a request for an order correcting the defects, errors, omissions, or irregularities.
(2) If the error, defect, omission, irregularity, or variance is in the description of any land or lands embraced in the district, the petition must set forth the correct description of the lands, the names of the holders of title or evidence of title to the lands, ascertained in the manner provided in 85-7-101 and 85-7-102, and if any holder is a nonresident of the county or counties in which the district lies, the post-office address of the nonresident owner, if known. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall direct notice of the hearing of the petition to be given in a manner as determined necessary to protect the rights and interests of the parties and, after a hearing of any parties intervening, shall enter an order correcting the defects, errors, omissions, or irregularities. If the defects, errors, omissions, or irregularities are in the description of the lands embraced in the district, the district court or judge shall direct the clerk of the court to publish, at least once a week for 2 successive weeks, in some newspaper published in the county where the petition is filed, a copy of the petition, together with a notice stating the time and place fixed by the district court when and where a hearing on the petition will be held, and, if any portion of the lands within the district lies within any other county or counties, the petition and notice must be published as provided in this subsection in a newspaper published in each of those counties. If a newspaper is not published in the county, the petition and notice may be published in an adjoining county. The first publication of the petition and notice must be not less than 30 days prior to the time mentioned in the notice for the hearing. If any holder of title or evidence of title to lands within the district is a nonresident of the county or counties in which the district lies, the clerk of court shall, within 3 days after the first publication, mail a copy of the petition and notice to each nonresident whose post-office address is stated in the petition. The certificate of the clerk of the district court, under the seal of the court, as to the facts of the publishing and mailing of the petition and notice, affixed to a copy of the notice, is sufficient evidence of the facts.
(3) At the time specified in the notice, the district court in which the petition is filed shall hear the petition but may adjourn the hearing from time to time and may continue the hearing for want of sufficient notice or other good cause. The court, upon application of the petitioners or any person or persons interested, shall permit the petition to be amended and may order further or additional notice to be given. Upon the hearing, all persons interested may appear and contest the application for the order requested in the petition, and the contestants and petitioners may offer any competent evidence pertinent to the request of the petition.
(4) The court may make changes in the description of the lands embraced within the limits of the district that may be considered advisable or as fact, right, and justice may require but may not exclude from the district any lands described as a part of the district in the order creating it after the district has issued bonds or entered into a contract with the United States under 85-7-1906. However, lands may be excluded from a district that has entered into a contract with the United States under 85-7-1906 if the secretary of the interior consents to the exclusion.
(5) If, on final hearing, it is found by the court that the petition does not substantially comply with the requirements of this section or that the facts stated in the petition are not sustained by the evidence, the court shall dismiss the petition at the cost of the petitioners and shall make and enter an order to that effect. If it is found that the petition substantially complies with the requirements of this section and that the facts stated in the petition are sustained by the evidence, the court shall make and enter an order in accordance with the request of the petition.
(6) All orders and findings of the district court made under the provisions of this section are conclusive upon all owners of lands within the district and are final unless appealed from to the supreme court within 60 days from the date of entry of the order. A copy of the order, certified to by the clerk of court, must be filed for record within 30 days after the order is made and entered with the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the lands included within the district are situated. There must be omitted from the copy lands not situated in the county in which the copy is filed.
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 54, L. 1923; re-en. Sec. 7189.1, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 13, L. 1937; R.C.M. 1947, 89-1403; amd. Sec. 2790, Ch. 56, L. 2009.