Opinion ID: 2589958
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: SFPC's Claim to Mine Waters by Adverse Use

Text: ¶ 46 Finally, SFPC claims title to the mine water through adverse possession. [19] The elements of proof necessary to acquire a prescriptive right to water are seven years of continuous, uninterrupted, hostile, notorious, and adverse enjoyment under a claim of title with knowledge and acquiescence of the owner of the prior right and at a time when the owner of the right needed the water adversely claimed. College Irr. v. Logan River & Blacksmith Fork Irr. Co., 780 P.2d 1241, 1243 (Utah 1989). The presumption is against the acquisition of a right by adverse use, and the burden of proof is upon the party asserting the right. See id. Under the doctrine of tacking, adverse possession may be completed by a series of possessors in privity. See, e.g., Royal Street Land Co. v. Reed, 739 P.2d 1104, 1106 (Utah 1987); Home Owners' Loan Corp. v. Dudley, 105 Utah 208, 225, 141 P.2d 160, 168 (1943). ¶ 47 The trial court properly rejected SFPC's adverse possession claim. Specifically, SFPC failed to prove seven years of continuous, uninterrupted, hostile, notorious, and adverse enjoyment under claim of title, beginning prior to 1939, by any party it may legitimately claim as its predecessor-in-interest. As stated above, Jesse Hulse is the only party SFPC may reasonably claim as its predecessor-in-interest. There is no reliable evidence that Hulse's predecessors made continuous, uninterrupted, hostile, notorious, and adverse use of mine water prior to 1939. In fact, as discussed at length above, SFPC's allegations that a substantial number of Silver Fork residents prior to Hulse beneficially used .446 c.f.s. of water from the mine is extremely speculative. This falls far short of the proof required to support an adverse possession claim in light of the presumption against these claims. Because Silver Fork cannot establish that its predecessors adversely used water from the Kentucky-Utah Mine prior to 1939, the trial court correctly rejected SFPC's adverse possession claim. ¶ 48 Because we affirm the trial court's determination to quiet title to waters intercepted in the Kentucky-Utah Mine in Salt Lake, and its rejection of SFPC's diligence and adverse possession claims, we do not consider SFPC's counterclaim seeking reimbursements of amounts it has paid to Salt Lake to purchase water from the mine. ¶ 49 Affirmed. ¶ 50 Chief Justice HOWE, Associate Chief Justice DURHAM, Justice ZIMMERMAN, and Justice RUSSON concur in Justice STEWART's opinion.