Cielo Vista Ranch I, LLC v. Alire, Court of Appeals No. 16CA2083
| Decision Date | 15 November 2018 |
| Docket Number | Court of Appeals No. 16CA2083 |
| Parties | CIELO VISTA RANCH I, LLC; Jaroso Creek Ranch, LLC ; and Western Properties Investors, LLC, Defendants-Appellants and Cross-Appellees, v. Billy ALIRE, Willie Alire, Leonides Atencio, Robert Atencio, Frances D. Berggran-Buhrles, Zach Bernal, Jose Fred Carson, Emilio DeHerrera, Juan DeHerrera, Adeline Espinosa, Edward Espinosa, Elmer Manuel Espinoza, Margurito Espinoza, Pete E. Espinoza, Corpus Gallegos, Gloria Gallegos, Jose A. Gallegos, Moises Gallegos, Ruben Gallegos, Rupert Gallegos, Raymond Garcia, Richard J. Garcia, Robert Garcia, Manuel Gardunio, Ruben Herrara, Gilbert G. Herrera, Charlie Jacquez, Jr., J.R. Jaquez, Jeffrey Jaquez, Maria Jaquez, Adelmo Kaber, Juan Lacombe, Adolph J. Lobato, Bonifacio "Bonnie" Lobato, Carlos Lobato, Emilio Lobato, Jr., Eugene Lobato, Henry Lobato, Jose F. Lobato, Pete Lobato, Presesentacion Lobato, Crucito Maes, Bert Maestas, Manuel Maestas, Norman Maestas, Raymond J. Maestas, Robert "Bobby" Maestas, Clorindo Martinez, David Martinez, Eugene Martinez, Hubert J. Martinez, Jesse Martinez, Jesse Martinez, Leonardo Martinez, Rosendo Martinez, Solestiano Martinez, Agatha Medina, Alfonso Medina, Cory Medina, Gilbert Medina, Leonardo Medina, Loyola Medina, Marvin Medina, Orry Medina, Raymond M. Medina, Gilbert "Andres" Montoya, Rudy Montoya, Willie Ray Montoya, Frank Olivas, Gurtrude C. Olivas, Shirley Romero Otero, Eppy Quintana, Apolinar Rael, Henry Rodriguez, Robert Romero, Bentura Roybal, Lucille Samelko, Anthony Sanchez, Bonnie Sanchez, Eugene Sanchez, Evan Sanchez, Frank Sanchez, Gerald Sanchez, James Sanchez, Jose G. Sanchez, Rufino Sanchez, S.R. Sanchez, Vernon Sanchez, Ronald A. Sandoval, Elesam Santistevan, Daniel Segura, Floyd R. Solan, Carolyn Taylor, Jose R. Torres, Arnold Valdez, Sam Valdez, Emejido Vialpando, Lawrence Vialpando, Martha Vialpando, Ervin L. Vigil, Joe P. Vigil, Larry J. Vigil, Manuel Vigil, Michael J. Vigil, Walter Vigil, David Cordova, Jerome Cordova, Matthew Cordova, Rodney Cordova, S. Raymond Cordova, Theresa Cordova, Isidro Gomez, Rosalie Gallegos, Mark Martinez, Daniel Martinez, Mike Martinez, Joseph Medina, Manuel Pacheco, Silas Pacheco, Julian Padilla, and Mary Renden, Plaintiffs-Appellees and Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | Colorado Court of Appeals |
Squire Patton Boggs, LLP, Carolyn L. McIntosh, Aaron A. Boschee, Brent R. Owen, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellees and Cross-Appellants Billy Alire, Willie Alire, Leonides Atencio, Robert Atencio, Frances D. Berggran-Buhrles, Zach Bernal, Jose Fred Carson, Emilio DeHerrera, Juan DeHerrera, Adeline Espinosa, Edward Espinosa, Elmer Manuel Espinoza, Margurito Espinoza, Pete E. Espinoza, Corpus Gallegos, Gloria Gallegos, Jose A. Gallegos, Moises Gallegos, Ruben Gallegos, Rupert Gallegos, Raymond Garcia, Richard J. Garcia, Robert Garcia, Manuel Gardunio, Ruben Herrara, Gilbert G. Herrera, Charlie Jacquez, Jr., J.R. Jaquez, Jeffrey Jaquez, Maria Jaquez, Adelmo Kaber, Juan Lacombe, Adolph J. Lobato, Bonifacio "Bonnie" Lobato, Carlos Lobato, Emilio Lobato, Jr., Eugene Lobato, Henry Lobato, Jose F. Lobato, Pete Lobato, Presesentacion Lobato, Crucito Maes, Bert Maestas, Manuel Maestas, Norman Maestas, Raymond J. Maestas, Robert "Bobby" Maestas, Clorindo Martinez, David Martinez, Eugene Martinez, Hubert J. Martinez, Jesse Martinez, Jesse Martinez, Leonardo Martinez, Rosendo Martinez, Solestiano Martinez, Agatha Medina, Alfonso Medina, Cory Medina, Gilbert Medina, Leonardo Medina, Loyola Medina, Marvin Medina, Orry Medina, Raymond M. Medina, Gilbert "Andres" Montoya, Rudy Montoya, Willie Ray Montoya, Frank Olivas, Gurtrude C. Olivas, Shirley Romero Otero, Eppy Quintana, Apolinar Rael, Henry Rodriguez, Robert Romero, Bentura Roybal, Lucille Samelko, Anthony Sanchez, Bonnie Sanchez, Eugene Sanchez, Evan Sanchez, Frank Sanchez, Gerald Sanchez, James Sanchez, Jose G. Sanchez, Rufino Sanchez, S.R. Sanchez, Vernon Sanchez, Ronald A. Sandoval, Elesam Santistevan, Daniel Segura, Floyd R. Solan, Carolyn Taylor, Jose R. Torres, Arnold Valdez, Sam Valdez, Emejido Vialpando, Lawrence Vialpando, Martha Vialpando, Ervin L. Vigil, Joe P. Vigil, Larry J. Vigil, Manuel Vigil, Michael J. Vigil, and Walter Vigil
Polsinelli, PC, Bennett L. Cohen, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellees and Cross-Appellants David Cordova, Jerome Cordova, Matthew Cordova, Rodney Cordova, S. Raymond Cordova, Theresa Cordova, Isidro Gomez, Rosalie Gallegos, Mark Martinez, Daniel Martinez, Mike Martinez, Joseph Medina, Manuel Pacheco, Silas Pacheco, Julian Padilla, and Mary Renden Spencer Fane LLP, Ronald L. Fano, Jamie N. Cotter, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant and Cross-Appellee Cielo Vista Ranch I, LLC
Dill, Dill, Carr, Stonbraker & Hutchings, P.C., John J. Coates, Denver, Colorado, for Defendants-Appellants and Cross-Appellees Jaroso Creek Ranch, LLC, and Western Properties Investors, LLC
Butler Snow, LLP, Martina Hinojosa, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus Curiae
Opinion by JUDGE WELLING
¶ 1 The origins of this case predate Colorado’s statehood, and along the way the parties have endured a long and circuitous road, which has included three prior visits to this court and three supreme court opinions. This appeal concerns the remand proceedings conducted pursuant to the supreme court’s two most recent decisions in this case: Lobato v. Taylor , 71 P.3d 938 (Colo. 2002) ( Lobato I ), and Lobato v. Taylor , 70 P.3d 1152 (Colo. 2003), as modified on denial of reh'g (June 16, 2003) ( Lobato II ). These remand proceedings were initiated fourteen years ago, in 2004, and remained active until this appeal.
¶ 2 Appellants are CVR Properties, Ltd., Jaroso Creek Ranch, LLC, and Western Properties Investors LLC, the owners of Cielo Vista Ranch and other properties that were once known as the Taylor Ranch (the Ranch). (We will refer to appellants collectively as Ranch Owner.) Ranch Owner challenges the trial court’s implementation of the supreme court’s mandate on remand. Appellees are landowners in Costilla County whose rights to access the Ranch to graze livestock and gather firewood and timber were decreed through the remand proceedings. Landowners have also cross-appealed, challenging certain proceedings on remand as contrary to the mandate.
¶ 3 In Lobato I and Lobato II , the supreme court held that Costilla County landowners whose land was settled as of 1869 were entitled to access the Ranch for grazing and to take firewood and timber.1 See Lobato I , 71 P.3d at 956 ; Lobato II , 70 P.3d at 1167. Carlos Beaubien had recruited frontier families to settle in the area in the 1850s and induced settlement by granting settlers the right to access and use the Ranch for grazing, firewood, and timber. This grant was memorialized in a Spanish language document—the Beaubien Document—that was executed and recorded by Beaubien in 1863. The supreme court held that Beaubien had granted permanent access rights that run with the land. Lobato I , 71 P.3d at 948-50. When it remanded the case after Lobato II , the supreme court "direct[ed] the trial court to identify all landowners who have access rights to the [Ranch] and to enter all necessary and appropriate orders to safeguard those rights." Lobato II , 70 P.3d at 1156.
¶ 4 To the extent the issues on appeal challenge the trial court’s implementation of the supreme court’s mandate, our role is limited to reviewing the trial court’s compliance with the mandate. We are not free to disregard or modify the supreme court’s mandate. Simply put, we have no more latitude than the trial court to rewrite or second-guess the mandate. Only the supreme court is free to modify its mandate. To the extent either party invites us to do so, we must decline.
¶ 5 On appeal, Ranch Owner contends that the proceedings on remand from 2004 through 2010, when the trial court identified most of the landowners with access rights to the Ranch, violated the mandate. Ranch Owner raises several contentions of error. Ranch Owner’s central contention is that the trial court’s "opt-out" process, pursuant to which it decreed access rights for individual Costilla County landowners even if they had not come forward to make a claim, improperly relieved these landowners of their burden of proof.
¶ 6 On cross-appeal, landowners contend that the trial court violated the mandate when, in 2010, it switched to an "opt-in" process to identify any remaining Costilla County landowners with access rights. They contend that this opt-in process, implemented from 2010 through 2016, failed to comprehensively identify all Costilla County landowners with access rights, as required by the mandate.
¶ 7 For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we conclude that the opt-out proceedings on remand from 2004 through 2010 were largely consistent with Lobato II ’s mandate. But we also conclude that the opt-in process implemented from 2010 through 2016 failed to discharge the mandate because that portion of the identification process also could have been comprehensive, but was not.
¶ 8 During the opt-out proceedings from 2004 through 2010, the trial court identified benefited landowners based on an official 1894 Costilla County land survey, which the supreme court described as "the best [available] evidence of benefited properties conveyed by Beaubien." Lobato II , 70 P.3d at 1159 n.6. We refer to the 1894 survey as "Map A and Book E" because of its location in the Costilla County records. Map A demarcates the boundaries and locations of the original vara strip tracts2 conveyed by Beaubien to settlers, while Book E describes each tract shown on Map A and identifies the settler to whom Beaubien originally conveyed the tract.3 Based on footnote six from Lobato II and the absence of contrary evidence, the trial court presumed that all Map A and Book E lands were settled as of 1869, which entitled their present-day owners to access the Ranch.
¶ 9 For the duration of the opt-out process, the trial court worked...
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