Bode v. Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources

• Decision Date: 01 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. C1-98-2200.,C1-98-2200.
• Citation: 612 N.W.2d 862
• Parties: Judy V. BODE, et al., petitioners, Appellants, v. MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

612 N.W.2d 862

Judy V. BODE, et al., petitioners, Appellants, v. MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, et al., Respondents.

No. C1-98-2200.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 1, 2000.

Rehearing Denied July 24, 2000.

Brian Bates, St.Paul, for appellant.

Mike Hatch, Attorney General, Craig L. Engwall, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, for respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

PAUL H. ANDERSON, Justice.

In 1998, following 18 years of legal and administrative proceedings, appellants Judy and Linda Bode asserted that a 1986 Nicollet County District Court judgment was void because a 1980 appeal from an administrative hearing was filed one day late. In that subsequent and separate district court action, the Bodes made a motion under Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02(d), arguing that the district court's 1986 judgment was void because the 1980 appeal by respondent Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had been untimely. The Bodes asked the court to vacate its prior judgments on the grounds that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the DNR's 1980 appeal. The court granted the Bodes' motion to vacate, but the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed. We affirm the court of appeals.

In 1976 and again in 1979, the Minnesota Legislature directed the Commissioner of the DNR to inventory the state's public waters and to designate those that were public waters and wetlands.¹ As a result of this legislation, the DNR inventoried the Bode farm in Nicollet County and classified part of the farm as wetlands. The DNR determined that the designated tract of land met the definition of "wetlands" contained in Minn.Stat. § 105.37, subd. 15 (Supp.1979) which, in relevant part, required that wetlands in unincorporated areas be at least ten acres in size.²

In August 1980, William Bode³ timely appealed the DNR's classification to the Nicollet County Hearings Unit. The Hearings Unit was created by statute to resolve landowner disputes arising from the DNR's wetlands inventory. See Minn. Stat. § 105.391, subd. 1 (Supp.1979). By an order dated September 10, 1980, the Hearings Unit concluded that there were two separate "water basins" located on the Bode farm, with each basin being smaller than ten acres. Accordingly, the Hearings Unit found that the DNR had improperly classified part of the Bode farm as wetlands. The Hearings Unit order was mailed to the DNR on October 1, 1980.

The DNR appealed the Hearings Unit order to the district court pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 15.0424, subd. 2(1) (Supp. 1979),⁴ which is a provision of the Administrative Procedures Act. The Bodes now contend that this appeal was filed one day late and the DNR does not contest this point. However, when the district court accepted jurisdiction in 1980, it appears that neither party was aware that the filing was late. In any case, at that time, William Bode did not make any objection on the grounds that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The following year, in 1981, William Bode installed a tile drainage system within the bed of the tract of land designated by the DNR as wetlands. Installation of the tile resulted in the complete drainage of the tract. The tract was then tilled, used to raise crops, and according to Judy Bode, yielded 170 bushels of corn per acre.

Meanwhile, the court considered the DNR's appeal and in 1986 reversed the Hearings Unit findings by an order for judgment that was dated December 17, 1986. Following the 1986 judgment, years of legal proceedings ensued between the Bodes and the DNR regarding the DNR's efforts to restore the wetlands located on the Bode farm. It is fair to say that at times the relationship between the Bodes and the DNR was acrimonious. For example, there was an episode on May 7, 1992 when the DNR, with the assistance of conservation officers and sheriff's deputies, went onto the Bode farm to destroy part of the Bodes' tile drainage system. A similar episode appears to have occurred on November 22, 1993.

In March 1996, the Bodes brought a subsequent independent action in district court alleging that (1) part of their farm had been improperly classified as wetlands, and (2) they were entitled to damages resulting from the DNR's destruction of part of their tile drainage system. In response to this action, the DNR raised the affirmative defense of collateral estoppel, asserting that the classification issue had already been decided. The DNR also asserted the defense of official immunity and subsequently moved for summary judgment on both grounds. The court granted the motion by an order dated September 18, 1997 and judgment was entered four days later.

In July 1998, in conjunction with the 1996 action, the Bodes brought a motion pursuant to Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure 60.02(d) and 56 to vacate the 1986 judgment and for partial summary judgment in their favor on the first count of the 1996 action. In this motion, the Bodes, for the first time in the many years of legal proceedings, raised the issue of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. More particularly, the Bodes argued that the DNR's 1980 appeal to the district court had been untimely; thus, the court never had subject matter jurisdiction, which lack of jurisdiction rendered the 1986 judgment void. The court agreed with the Bodes' argument and (1) vacated the 1986 judgment, (2) vacated its grant of summary judgment to the DNR as to the first count in the 1996 action, and (3) granted partial summary judgment to the Bodes on the first count of the 1996 action. In reaching this result, the court interpreted Minnesota case law as clearly demonstrating that judgments are void when the court granting judgment lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The court also found that there is no time limitation for commencing proceedings to vacate such judgments.

The DNR appealed and the court of appeals reversed. The court of appeals began its analysis by stating that "[s]ubject-matter jurisdiction is `a court's power to hear and determine cases of the general class or category to which the proceedings in question belong.'" Bode v. Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources, 594 N.W.2d 257, 259 (Minn.App.1999) (quoting Black's Law Dictionary 1425 (6th ed.1990)). The court then concluded that some Minnesota case law has applied subject matter jurisdiction analysis to judgments that do not necessarily fall within the aforementioned definition of subject matter jurisdiction, but instead involve "procedural irregularities." Id. The court reasoned that cases with procedural irregularities may involve an "incurable jurisdictional defect," but do not necessarily implicate subject matter jurisdiction. Id. The court then stated that holding a judgment void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on an untimely appeal confuses an inappropriate exercise of power with the absence of power. See id. at 260. Applying this reasoning, the court held that "the 1986 judgment was not void for subject matter jurisdiction as that term is applied in its strict sense * * *." Id. at 263. On appeal to this court, the Bodes challenge the court of appeals' conclusion and again argue that the 1986 district court judgment should be vacated.

I.

We begin our analysis by noting that a party may either directly or collaterally challenge a judgment's validity for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. A party can directly attack a judgment "in the same proceeding as the one in which the judgment was entered." Black's Law Dictionary 472 (7th ed.1999). Also, when appropriate, a party may make a collateral attack, which is an "attack on a judgment entered in a different proceeding." Id. at 255. Here, it is undisputed that the Bodes brought a Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02(d) motion attacking the validity of the 1986 judgment in the context of their subsequent independent 1996 action. Because the Bodes challenged the 1986 judgment in a different proceeding, their attack was collateral. But Rule 60.02(d) is a procedural mechanism to directly, rather than collaterally, attack a void judgment. See generally Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02. This characterization is supported by the language in the rule that provides that the rule "does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment * * *." Id.

By filing a Rule 60.02(d) motion for a direct attack on subject matter jurisdiction in the context of the 1996 action, the Bodes were, in effect, collaterally challenging the district court's subject matter jurisdiction over the 1986 action. In this context, the Bodes' motion must fail because a Rule 60.02(d) motion is not the proper vehicle for such a collateral attack. We therefore conclude that the Bodes' motion was procedurally improper and that the district court erred when it granted the motion.

Beyond being procedurally deficient, the Bodes' collateral attack on the 1986 judgment for lack of subject matter jurisdiction also fails on its merits. We review issues involving jurisdiction de novo. See Minnesota Ctr. for Envtl. Advocacy v. Metropolitan Council, 587 N.W.2d 838, 842 (Minn.1999)

. We have held that the "statutory limitation of time within which an appeal may be taken from an appealable order or * * * judgment is jurisdictional." Arndt v. Minnesota Educ. Ass'n, 270 Minn. 489, 490, 134 N.W.2d 136, 137 (1965). The traditional rule is that there is no time limit for challenging a final judgment that is void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See 12 James W. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice § 60.44 (3d ed.1997). The principle underlying this rule is that a judgment's validity is of utmost importance. Minnesota courts have adhered to this traditional rule. In Lange v. Johnson and its progeny, we held that judgments are void if a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and that there is no time limit for bringing a motion to vacate such a judgment. 295 Minn. 320, 323-24, 204 N.W.2d 205, 208 (1973); see...