Court Opinion

ID: 9843516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:40:01.195023+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:48.446432
License: Public Domain

*187JUSTICE TRIEWEILER
specially concurring.
I agree with the result arrived at by the majority. However, I am unable to agree with everything that is said in the majority opinion.
My particular concern is with Part II of the majority opinion. I cannot as easily as the majority reconcile the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Vlandis v. Kline (1973), 412 U.S. 441, and United States v. Locke (1985), 471 U.S. 84. To me these decisions are inconsistent. Vlandis would seem to require reversal of the Water Court decision forfeiting appellant’s water rights because § 85-2-226, MCA, creates an irrebuttable presumption of abandonment which is not universally true. However, in Locke the Supreme Court calls an abandonment a forfeiture and thereby arrives at a different result. Since Locke is the more recent and factually specific case, I agree that it is controlling on the due process issue. However, I do not agree with the reasoning in Locke, nor do I agree with the majority’s willingness to so easily distinguish Vlandis.