Opinion ID: 2520983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: ¶ 11 HCIC argues that the trial court erred in allowing USF to challenge and overcome the first priority of HCIC to the waters of Cedar Creek. HCIC alleges that USF violated Utah Code section 73-4-11 when it filed its objection to the San Rafael Proposed Determination after the ninety-day statutory period had expired. According to HCIC, the trial court has allowed USF to accomplish an end-run around the general adjudication procedures by accepting USF's independent action for relief outside of the pending general adjudication. USF counters by arguing that section 73-4-11 is permissive, not mandatory. ¶ 12 While USF is correct that section 73-4-11 is permissive, USF fails to recognize that section 73-4-12 requires the court to enter judgment consistent with uncontested elements of a proposed determination. This mandate cannot coexist with the prosecution of an independent action which could result in a judgment inconsistent with an uncontested portion of a proposed determination. We therefore reverse the trial court's holding. ¶ 13 Section 73-4-11 of the Utah Code states in pertinent part as follows: After full consideration of the statements of claims ... the state engineer shall formulate a report and 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 of such mailing file with the clerk of the district court a written objection thereto .... Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-11 (1989) (emphasis added). Section 73-4-12 of the Utah Code describes the consequences of failing to lodge a timely objection, stating: If no contest on the part of any claimant shall have been filed, the court shall render a judgment in accordance with such proposed determination, which shall determine and establish the rights of the several claimants to the use of the water ... and such other matters as will fully and completely define the rights of said claimants to the use of the water. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-12 (1989) (emphasis added). ¶ 14 Our legislature has entrusted to the state engineer the responsibility of sorting out competing claims to Utah's scarce water resources. See Id. §§ 73-4-1 to -24 (1989). When the proper allocation of water rights is in dispute, the state engineer can initiate a general adjudication of water rights by filing an action in district court to determine the various rights of water users. Id. § 73-4-1 (Supp.2002). After investigating the various claims, the state engineer submits a proposed determination of the parties' rights to the district court for its consideration in ruling on the general adjudication. Id. § 73-4-11. The state engineer has special training in the operation and control of natural streams and irrigation and ... control of water and water rights, and is especially qualified to understand the facts involved in these problems.... East Bench Irrig. Co. v. State, 5 Utah 2d 235, 300 P.2d 603, 606 (1956). However, the state engineer is an executive, not a judicial officer. Id. Therefore, as a general rule, [t]he determination of the priority of rights is a judicial function and not among the powers of the state engineer. Whitmore v. Murray City, 107 Utah 445, 154 P.2d 748, 750 (1944). While courts may consider the state engineer's determination persuasive in determining parties' respective rights, they are under no obligation to defer to his or her findings. ¶ 15 As noted above, the procedures governing review of a state engineer's proposed determination are permissive and not an impediment to independent private suits respecting ownership and priority of water rights. However, the uncontested proposed determination is an exception to the permissive nature of the statutory scheme. The clear mandate of section 73-4-12 is that courts must render judgment in accordance with a proposed determination where the proposed determination is uncontested at the close of the ninety-day statutory period. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-12. ¶ 16 Fifty years ago, the district court entered an order requiring that all water rights within the San Rafael River Drainage, including Cedar Creek, be adjudicated pursuant to title 73, chapter 4 of the Utah Code. The entry of this order for a general adjudication set in motion procedures for giving notice to water claimants, the filing of statements by claimants, and a comprehensive and exhaustive investigation by the state engineer. The state engineer's findings were then compiled in a report and proposed determination. The state engineer's report on the San Rafael River Drainage, issued in December 1982, found HCIC's 10.0 cfs to be the senior irrigation right on Cedar Creek. ¶ 17 By the plain language of the statute, USF had ninety days from the date of service of the proposed determination to file an objection to the proposed award of water rights to HCIC. Id. § 73-4-11. USF filed an objection one day late. Its tardiness had consequences. Unless and until USF sought and obtained leave of court in the general adjudication to excuse its tardy objection, HCIC was entitled to judgment perfecting the state engineer's proposed award to HCIC of the 10.0 cfs irrigation right. Id. § 73-4-12. ¶ 18 To this day, USF has not sought to have its untimely objection accepted in the general adjudication. Therefore, that court remains under a statutory mandate to enter judgment perfecting HCIC's claim to the 10.0 cfs of irrigation water. We believe it is the obligation of a trial court confronted with a private suit seeking relief inconsistent with an uncontested proposed determination in a general adjudication to abstain from adjudicating the private claims. Although the language of Sections 73-4-11 and 73-4-12 requires abstention, this statutory mandate is a limited one. The general adjudication and objection process in sections 73-4-11 and -12 has never been the exclusive procedure by which water users may assert their claims. See Murdock v. Springville Mun. Corp., 878 P.2d 1147, 1150 (Utah 1994). Once an objection to a proposed determination of water rights has been properly filed in a general adjudication proceeding, the objecting party is at liberty to pursue separate adjudication of private claims. ¶ 19 This court determined long ago that the adoption of uncontested state engineers' proposed determinations by operation of law did not unconstitutionally confer adjudicative power on the state engineer. Eden Irrig. Co. v. Dist. Court, 61 Utah 103, 211 P. 957 at 960 (1922). See also Huntsville Irrigation Ass'n v. District Court, 72 Utah 431, 270 P. 1090, 1094 (1928) (affirming that the constitutional objections raised against the water rights determination statutes at issue in Eden were without merit.). In Eden, we examined nearly identical language in the predecessor statutes to sections 73-4-11 and -12 of the Utah Code at issue here. We reasoned then that the fate of a water right claimant who fails to object to a proposed award was similar to that of a defaulting party in a lawsuit. [I]f the claimant makes no objection, he, by his silence, ... confesses the statements contained in the engineer's proposed determination of his water rights, and thus a judgment may legally be entered in accordance with the proposed determination of the engineer. Eden Irrig. Co., 211 P. at 960. The Eden holding and reasoning have continuing force and offer sound guidance. ¶ 20 When USF failed to timely contest HCIC's claim to the 10.0 cfs of Cedar Creek water, it took on the status of a defaulting party in the general adjudication. Although no final judgment has been entered in the trial court, the statutory directive that the court shall render a judgment in accordance with such proposed determination vested in HCIC a right to obtain judgment, either by applying for the determination's entry or through an action sua sponte by the trial court. USF cannot defeat this right through collateral attack in a separate lawsuit. Only in rare instances do we permit collateral attacks on default judgments. Similarly, we should insulate from collateral assault a party who has acquired a statutory entitlement to a judgment. The general adjudication provided USF, and indeed all claimants in the San Rafael River drainage, a statutorily-mandated forum in which to contest competing claims. It is in that forum that USF should be compelled to seek relief for its untimely-filed objection to HCIC's claim. ¶ 21 In this action, just as in the general adjudication proceeding, the title to be quieted, the injunctive and declaratory relief granted, and the monetary damages awarded all must reflect HCIC's right to the entry of judgment based on the state engineer's proposed determination. Accordingly, we vacate the trial court's award of 10.0 cfs of water from Cedar Creek to USF and hold that the trial court should have abstained from adjudicating the private claims in this action where USF did not contest the proposed determination within the statutorily-mandated period.