Opinion ID: 2823836
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Water Courtâs Issue Preclusion Order in This Case

Text: Â¶28Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The water courtâs order, dated November 24, 2013, states in pertinent part as follows. First, the water court recites that the Engineers assert, as a matter of law, that the water right must be requantified and reduced to take into account 24 years of nonuse under the Owens Concrete change decree. Second, the water court rules as a matter of fact and law that issue preclusion prevents the Engineers from seeking such a requantification. Third, the water court reasons that, if a determination of current historical consumptive use must necessarily include each of the 24 years of nonuse as zero years, there would be a significant reduction in the volume of consumptive use water available to Sedaliaâs use of the water right. Fourth, the court concludes that acceptance of the Engineersâ position would result in a de facto finding of abandonment of part of the water right without Sedalia being able to present evidence to rebut a presumption of abandonment. Fifth, the water court finds and concludes that issue preclusion prevents the Engineers from contesting the average annual amount of 13 acre-feet of beneficial consumptive use water adjudicated in the 1986 decree, unless abandonment of the water right occurred, and that amount is available to Sedalia for its change of water right and augmentation plan. The Engineers contend that Sedaliaâs water right must be requantified because it has not been used since the decree for Case No. 83CW364 was entered in 1986. The Engineers assert that the non-use of the water rightÂ constitutes a change in circumstances which occurred after the decree entered, and therefore neither claim nor issue preclusion prevent the court from requiring Sedalia to requantify the average historical consumptive use. Further, the Engineers seek an order reducing Sedaliaâs water right proportionally to account for the period of non-use . . . . All four criteria necessary for application of issue preclusion exist in this case. The historical consumptive use of Sedaliaâs 27.1% of the Stephens Sump No.1/Ball Ditch right was quantified in Case No. 83 CW364. The Engineers were a party in that prior action and had full and fair opportunity to ligate the issue of historical consumptive use. Finally, the decree in Case No. 83CW364 is a final judgment . . . . The water court in 1986 quantified the historical consumptive use of the 27.1% interest in the Stephens Sump No. 1/Ball Ditch right, now owned by Sedalia, as 13.0 acre feet per year, to be diverted at the rate of 0.116 cfs. The Engineers concede that the historical consumptive use for the water right was quantified as of December 3, 1986, and agree they are bound by the courtâs findings through that date. However, the Engineers argue that a determination of the current historical consumptive use must necessarily include the twenty-plus years that the water right was not used. While it is not known how many years of use prior to 1986 the court considered when calculating average historical consumptive use, if the court now includes the many years of non-use after the decree was entered to requantify the historical consumptive use there would undoubtedly be a significant reduction of the water right decreed in Case No. 83CW364 . . . . However, in a case such as this where the historical consumptive use has been quantified as part of a final decree and that water right has not been used after the decree entered, the court finds that proper inquiry is whether that water right has been abandoned in whole or in part, rather than requiring the water right holder to requantify that right. See C.R.S. 37-92-301(5). To hold otherwise under the facts of this case would result in a de facto finding of abandonment of part of the water right without an opportunity for Sedalia to offer evidence to rebut a presumption of abandonment arising from a lengthy period of non-use . . . . Sedalia is not required in this action to requantify its 27.1% interest in the Stephen Sump No. 1/Ball Ditch water right, which as previously quantified as 13.0 acre feet per year by the water court in Case No. 83CW364. The court finds that issue preclusion bars the Engineers from contesting the average historical consumptive use quantified in Case. No. 83CW364. In addition, the court concludes that the applicableÂ standard, based on the particular facts of this case, is abandonment and not requantification of the water right. Order Re: Sedaliaâs Motion for Summary Judgment and the State and DivisionÂ Engineersâ Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (Water Division 1, State of Colorado, Nov. 24, 2013). Â¶29Â Â Â Â Â Â Â We agree with the water court that issue preclusion applies to the historical consumptive use quantification the water court adjudicated in the 1986 Owens Concrete change decree, and as parties to that case the Engineers cannot relitigate that issue here. We do not agree, however, that issue preclusion bars an inquiry into whether unjustified post-decree nonuse of the water right occurred between 1986 and Sedaliaâs change application following acquisition of the water right. Because prongs 1 and 4 of the issue preclusion inquiry are not met, issue preclusion does not apply. As to prong 1, the present issue of beneficial useâincluding the post-1986 decree nonuseâcannot be considered identical to the issue of actual historical beneficial consumptive use between 1872 and 1986 when the water court last examined the representative historical period of the water rightâs exercise in the Owens Concrete change case. As to prong 4, the alleged post-1986 nonuse was not and could not have been litigated in the prior case, and the party against whom estoppel is sought, the Engineers, has not had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue of the alleged post-1986 decree period of nonuse of the water right and the effect, if any, that an unjustified period of nonuse has on the amount of consumptive use water available for Sedaliaâs change of water right and augmentation plan.