Opinion ID: 888250
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the District Court err by adopting Appellee's Walter E. Babcock, et al. and the Montana Farm Bureau Federation's proposed findings of fact verbatim?

Text: ¶ 54 The BRPA argues that the District Court failed to exercise independent judgment by adopting Landowners' proposed SAL Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law verbatim. According to the BRPA, the District Court's adopted Findings are clearly erroneous because they are not supported by substantial credible evidence. The BRPA argues that the adopted Findings contain imprecise citations to the record and are contradicted by the BCD's 310 Law decision. ¶ 55 Although we have discouraged the practice of adopting verbatim the proposed findings and conclusions submitted by a party, we recognize that, once adopted, the findings become formally those of the district court judge, and are not to be overturned simply because the court relied upon proposed findings and conclusions submitted by counsel. Rossi v. Pawiroredjo, 2004 MT 39, ¶ 26, 320 Mont. 63, ¶ 26, 85 P.3d 776, ¶ 26 (citation omitted). [A] court is not necessarily prohibited from adopting the prevailing party's proposed findings; the test is whether the findings are sufficiently comprehensive and pertinent to the issues to provide a basis for decision and whether they are supported by the evidence. In re Marriage of Crilly, 2005 MT 311, ¶ 38, 329 Mont. 479, ¶ 38, 124 P.3d 1151, ¶ 38 (citation omitted). ¶ 56 A review of the District Court's order and the Landowners' proposed findings and conclusions does not indicate error was committed merely by virtue of the court's verbatim adoption of the findings and conclusions. While there are instances in which Landowners' proposed findings do not entirely comport with the District Court's opinion, those discrepancies are minor. The District Court clearly performed its own analysis and drafted its own narrative order. Its further verbatim adoption of the Landowners' proposed findings and conclusions, which did not conflict with the court's narrative order in any significant way, was not error. Whether these conclusions were substantively correct is a separate issue, discussed hereinafter.