Opinion ID: 1160516
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: burden of proof under the amnesty statutes

Text: The district court concluded that a party claiming entitlement to a transfer under section 42-1425 or an enlarged use under section 42-1426 bears the burden of proof to show the transfer or the enlargement will not cause injury. Once again, where a statute is clear and unambiguous the Court must follow the law as written. Sweeney, 119 Idaho at 138, 804 P.2d at 311. It is the Court's duty to effectuate the legislature's intent when interpreting statutes. Section 42-1425(2)(a) of the Idaho Code states that if an objection is filed to a claim for an accomplished transfer the district court shall remand the water right to the director for further hearing to determine whether the change injured a water right existing on the date of the change or constituted an enlargement of the original right. I.C. § 42-1425(2)(a). The statute provides that a hearing will then be conducted, and the director shall submit a supplemental report to the district court setting forth his findings or conclusions. Id. The statute then provides that, [i]f the claimant or any person who filed an objection to the accomplished transfer is aggrieved by the director's determination, they may seek review before the district court. Id. (emphasis added). This language envisions that the party aggrieved by the director's recommendation, whether that be the party claiming an accomplished transfer or the party claiming injury, has the burden of proof under section 42-1425. In In re SRBA Case No. 39576, 128 Idaho 246, 912 P.2d 614 (1995), this Court defined the status of the Director's report: The Legislature's direction that the contents of the Director's report shall constitute prima facie evidence of some water rights claims was a permissible exercise of the authority, recognized in I.R.E. 301, to create an evidentiary presumption. Unless that evidentiary presumption is overcome by the evidence or the application of that presumption is clearly erroneous on its face, the facts set forth in the Director's report are established. Id. at 256, 912 P.2d at 624. Section 42-1426 of the Idaho Code establishes a different procedure: The director shall publish a notice of enlargement of water right for all water rights recommended under this section. The notice shall contain a summary of the notice of claim and shall be published in the same manner as notices for applications to appropriate water in section 42-203A, Idaho Code. Any person who has filed an application for a water right prior to the enactment of this act or who has been issued a permit for a water right prior to enactment of this act but who has not filed a claim in an adjudication shall have one hundred twenty (120) days from the date of last publication of the notice of enlargement of a water right under this section to file a petition with the department of water resources to assert any claimed injury from the enlargement. No appeal of the determination of the department shall be allowed. I.C. § 42-1426(3). Unlike section 42-1425, section 42-1426 then provides that [i]f the applicant or permittee is dissatisfied with the determination of the department on any claim of injury, the sole remedy is to intervene in the general adjudication and assert their claim of injury in an objection to the water right. I.C. § 42-1426(3) (emphasis added). The scheme established in section 42-1426 is that the party asserting the right to an enlargement must submit that application to the Department of Water Resources. If the Director recommends an enlargement, the Director shall publish a notice of claim setting forth the information required in notices of applications to appropriate water. A person who has not filed a claim in the adjudication who claims injury from the enlargement may petition the Department to assert the claim. A person who has filed a claim in the SRBA does not have to petition the Department separately to oppose an enlargement. The Director will consider the petition for enlargement in relation to the claims that have been filed. The Director will then make a determination of whether the enlargement should be allowed. The determination may disallow the enlargement or may allow the enlargement subject to conditions that will mitigate any injury. If mitigation of the injury is not possible, the enlarged right may be advanced to a day later than the junior water right that would otherwise be injured. Either party who objects to the Director's determination may assert that objection in the general adjudication. Either party who asserts injury, whether that be the applicant for an enlargement or the person who claims injury by the enlargement, has the burden of establishing the claim in the general adjudication. I.C. § 42-1426(3). This scheme recognizes the reality that the party asserting a claim is in the best position to establish the existence of a controverted fact, and must, therefore, bear the burden of proving the existence of that fact. The determination of facts by the Director is presumptively correct. Id. The decision as to the validity and priority of water rights will be established by the district court in the adjudication. Consistent with our determination in In re SRBA Case No. 39576, 128 Idaho 246, 912 P.2d 614, this scheme does not violate separation of powers principles.