Opinion ID: 874557
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the District Court Err in Determining the Priority Dates for LU Ranching's Water Rights?

Text: In the Joyce Livestock case, we vacated the district court's determination of priority dates because of certain errors in law made by the district court. It had held that a livestock owner could not obtain water rights on federal land for instream stock watering without evidence of an intent to appropriate. It also held that the failure to list such water rights in applications for grazing permits showed the lack of such intent. It had also held that water rights appurtenant to real property would not pass with a conveyance of that real property absent evidence that the grantor also intended to convey the appurtenant water rights. Finally, it failed to recognize the significance of predecessors being granted Class 1 grazing permits. The district court made the same errors when analyzing the evidence in this case. We therefore vacate its determination of priorities for the water rights claimed by LU Ranching and remand for a redetermination of those priorities in a manner consistent with our opinion in Joyce Livestock Company v. United States .