Opinion ID: 2628535
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Did the district court fail to follow the mandate of the Supreme Court upon remand?

Text: [¶ 32] In Wilson II, 2007 WY 10, ¶ 35, 150 P.3d at 667, we reversed in part and remanded the case to the district court for the following stated purpose: As to the issue of quiet title, however, we reverse and remand this matter to the district court for entry of an order quieting title to the property in the Wilsons, subject to the right of Lucerne to transport water from its diversion dam to its headgate, and beyond, as set forth above. If the precise location of such easement cannot be stipulated, the district court shall take additional evidence to identify the precise location thereof, including the survey originally ordered by the district court in its January 10, 1989 order. [¶ 33] We have held that substantial compliance is the standard for testing the disposition of a case made by the trial court after a remand order. Smith Keller & Assocs. v. Dorr, 4 P.3d 872, 875 (Wyo. 2000). Where, as here, the remand involves a bench trial, we apply our usual standard of review of the findings and conclusions of a judge, as opposed to a jury: After a bench trial, we review the trial court's factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard and its legal conclusions de novo. We do not substitute ourselves for the trial court as a finder of facts; instead, we defer to the trial court's findings unless they are unsupported by the record or erroneous as a matter of law. Although the factual findings of a trial court are not entitled to the limited review afforded a jury verdict, the findings are presumptively correct. This Court may examine all of the properly admissible evidence in the record, but we do not reweigh the evidence. Due regard is given to the opportunity of the trial judge to assess the credibility of the witnesses. We accept the prevailing party's evidence as true and give to that evidence every favorable inference which may fairly and reasonably be drawn from it. Findings may not be set aside because we would have reached a different result. A finding will only be set aside if, although there is evidence to support it, this Court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Ultra Res., Inc. v. Hartman, 2010 WY 36, ¶ 97, 226 P.3d 889, 922-23 (Wyo.2010) (citations omitted). [¶ 34] We will give short shrift to this argument. We remanded to the district court in Wilson II for entry of a quiet title order in favor of the Wilsons, subject to Lucerne's water facilities easement. Wilson II, 2007 WY 10, ¶ 35, 150 P.3d at 667. If the parties could not agree upon the easement's location, the district court was to hold a hearing on the matter. That hearing was held and the district court issued its Order on Location of Easement on November 24, 2009. The order was appealed before the dust had settled in the resultant battle over the form of the final judgmenta final judgment we presume would have included the order quieting title to the underlying land in the Wilsons. [¶ 35] The district court substantially complied with this Court's mandate upon remand in Wilson II. Logically, the quiet title order could not be entered until the easement to which title was subject was identified. That has now been done, so we will again remand the case to the district court for the purpose of entry of such order. We presume, perhaps at our peril, that the legal description of the land to which title has been quieted was adequately described in the proceedings that led to Wilson II. If not, that process should also be completed.