Opinion ID: 1249280
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: dismissal of petition in the general adjudication action

Text: As this court recognized in Smith v. District Court, 69 Utah 493, 498, 256 P. 539, 544 (1927), the purpose of the general adjudication process is to prevent piecemeal litigation regarding water rights and to provide a permanent record of all such rights by decree. Once the general adjudication is initiated, the state engineer is required to give notice to all water users of record and to give further notice by publication. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-4. Water users then submit their water user claims, outlining their respective claims to the water use. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-5. The state engineer prepares a hydrographic survey of the river system and evaluates various water user claims. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-3. After a full consideration of the claims, surveys, records, and files, the state engineer publishes a proposed determination of water rights. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-11. A copy of the proposed determination is either mailed or hand-delivered to each claimant for review. Within ninety days after such service, any water user dissatisfied with the proposed determination may file an objection with the district court. The court then hears evidence and renders judgment on the contested claims. Utah Code Ann. §§ 73-4-13 & -15. Absent a protest, the district court must enter judgment in accordance with the proposed determination. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-12. Section 73-4-24 provides, [I]f, during the pendency of a general adjudication suit, there shall be a dispute involving water rights of less than all of the parties to such suit, any interested party may petition the court in which the general adjudication suit is pending to hear and determine the dispute. It was pursuant to this section that Jensen filed his petition on July 10, 1989, contesting the recommendation in book 5 that his WUC 93-957 be denied and that the BLM's WUC 93-1091 be allowed. Jensen seeks to excuse his failure to timely file an objection to the proposed determination contained in book 5 on the ground that he did not receive a copy of the book and was unaware of its contents until long after the expiration of the ninety-day protest period. He concedes that in December 1983, he learned that the state engineer had prepared book 2 of the proposed determination and that he went to the state engineer's office in Price, Utah, and was given a copy. He contends that he examined the book and found no reference to water right No. 2167 upon which his WUC 93-957 was based and that he orally protested this omission. Jensen stated in an affidavit that [h]e was told by the Area Engineer, Mark Page, that book 2 was a preliminary tabulation, that his water right would no doubt be added later, and that there was no reason for making a written protest. In accordance with this advice, he made no written protest. Jensen further stated that on March 7, 1986, when the state engineer allegedly mailed a copy of book 5 to him at Huntington, Utah, he had no home or mailing address there, but that he lived at 4570 West 5780 South, Kearns, Utah 84118; that his son had a post office box in Huntington in which mail was deposited but that it was too small to hold book 5; and that there is another Russel Jensen living in Huntington. We begin our analysis by stating the relevant statute. Section 73-4-11 provides, in pertinent part: [T]he state engineer shall formulate ... a proposed determination of all rights to the use of the water ... and a copy of the same shall be mailed by regular mail to each claimant with notice that any claimant dissatisfied therewith may within ninety days from such date of mailing file with the clerk of the district court a written objection thereto duly verified on oath. This court has held that regular mailing when allowed by statute, as opposed to actual receipt, is sufficient notice. Anderson v. Public Serv. Comm'n, 839 P.2d 822 (Utah 1992); Mosby Irrigation Co. v. Criddle, 11 Utah 2d 41, 45, 354 P.2d 848, 852 (1960). In Mosby, the state engineer sent notice to a water user that its approved application to appropriate water was about to lapse for failure to submit proof. The relevant statute required that notice be given by mail, which was done. The water user claimed that the notice was not received. We held that the statutory notice requirement was satisfied by evidence of mailing and that the statute did not require actual receipt. Id. In the instant case, there is in the record an affidavit of mailing by a secretary in the office of the state engineer which states that she mailed copies of the Proposed Determination of Water Rights in San Rafael River ... and notice that any protest thereto must be filed within ninety (90) days, on the 4th day of March, 1986, by regular mail, postage prepaid to a long list of water users, including Jensen, at Huntington, Utah 84528. The notice of the right to protest is found on the first page of the proposed determination. Jensen's copy was mailed to him at the address he had furnished the state engineer on his WUC 93-957. He does not claim that he had furnished the state engineer with any change of address. Further, one year after the mailing of book 5 to him on March 4, 1986, he filed his complaint in Civil No. 4975, seeking review of the state engineer's denial of his change application. On that complaint, filed September 14, 1987, he listed his address as Desert Valley Ranch, P.O. Box 443, Huntington, Utah 84528. We hold that Jensen was given proper notice, and since he did not file a protest to the state engineer's recommendation within ninety days, the trial court did not err in dismissing his petition. Jensen's petition also challenged the validity of the BLM's WUC 93-1091, allowance of which was recommended in book 2. Since it is clear that Jensen received book 2 and did not file a timely protest against WUC 93-1091, his petition was properly dismissed.