Eagle Ridge Ranch Ltd. Partnership v. Park County, 97-047

• Citation: 938 P.2d 1342,283 Mont. 62
• Decision Date: 03 June 1997
• Docket Number: No. 97-047,97-047
• Parties: EAGLE RIDGE RANCH LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, a Montana limited partnership, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. PARK COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Montana, and all other persons unknown, claiming or who might claim any right, title, estate, or interest in or lien or encumbrance upon the real property described in this Complaint adverse to Plaintiff's ownership or any cloud upon Plaintiff's title thereto, whether such claim or possible claim be present or contingent, Defendants and Appellants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Montana

Page 1342

938 P.2d 1342

283 Mont. 62

EAGLE RIDGE RANCH LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, a Montana limited partnership, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. PARK COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Montana, and all other persons unknown, claiming or who might claim any right, title, estate, or interest in or lien or encumbrance upon the real property described in this Complaint adverse to Plaintiff's ownership or any cloud upon Plaintiff's title thereto, whether such claim or possible claim be present or contingent, Defendants and Appellants.

No. 97-047.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs April 10, 1997.

Decided June 3, 1997.

[283 Mont. 63] Tara DePuy, Park County Attorney, Livingston, for Appellant.

Michael J. Lilly; Berg, Lilly, Andriolo & Tollefsen; Bozeman, for Respondent.

REGNIER, Justice.

Eagle Ridge Ranch filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against Park County requesting that the Sixth Judicial District Court, Park County, order a road on its property be declared a private road. The District Court granted Eagle Ridge Ranch's motion for summary judgment. Park County appeals from an order of reconsideration of the District Court which denied its request to amend its answers to interrogatories after Eagle Ridge had filed a motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

The issue on appeal is whether the District Court erred by not allowing Park County to amend its answers to interrogatories after Eagle Ridge Ranch had filed a motion for summary judgment in reliance upon the original answers.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Eagle Ridge Ranch is a Montana limited partnership, owning sections 25, 26, and 35, Township 4 North, Range 9 East, P.M.M., in Park County, Montana. A road traverses those sections. This road is generally referred to as the South Fork of the Elk Creek Road.

On December 8, 1993, the attorney for Eagle Ridge, Michael J. Lilly, met with the Park County Commissioners to discuss the status of the road which ran across the Eagle Ridge Ranch. During that meeting, the Commissioners maintained that the road was a county road, one having been created by petition. Eagle Ridge maintained that it was a private road.

Following the meeting, Lilly conducted extensive research, both factual and legal, in an effort to assess the validity of the Park County Commissioners' position. At the conclusion of the research, Lilly wrote a letter to the Commissioners on May 2, 1994, in which he provided a detailed history, including exhibits, to support his argument that the road was not created by petition. Eagle Ridge incurred $7,478.64 in attorney fees and costs in its effort to convince the county that the road was not a county road created by petition.

On May 20, 1994, the Park County Attorney responded to the letter, maintaining that the road was in fact a county road created by petition. Subsequently, Eagle Ridge Ranch filed a lawsuit on October 5, 1994, requesting the District Court's declaration that the road was a private road, not a county road.

Early in the litigation, Eagle Ridge propounded two interrogatories to Park County. One interrogatory requested Rather than oppose the motion for summary judgment, Park County sought permission of the District Court to amend its answers to the two interrogatories. At this time, the County was apparently aware that it could not prove that the road was created by petition, and the proposed amendments would allow the County to maintain that the road was created by prescription, which was a new legal theory not previously asserted. The District Court, over Eagle Ridge's objection, allowed the County to amend its answers.

                the county to indicate whether the road was created by petition.  The County's answer to the interrogatory was in the affirmative.  The next interrogatory asked whether the County contends that the road was legally created through a means other than petition.  The County replied, "no."   After receiving the answers to the interrogatories, Eagle Ridge filed a motion for summary judgment
                

On April 19, 1996, Eagle Ridge filed a motion of reconsideration of the District Court's order allowing the County to amend its answers to interrogatories on the basis of Park County consented to the entry of an order granting summary judgment reserving its right to appeal the District Court's order of reconsideration. The District Court entered summary judgment in favor of Eagle Ridge Ranch declaring the South Fork of Elk Creek Road to be a private road where it traverses the ranch's property. Park County appeals the District Court's order of reconsideration.

                a newly decided case issued by this Court, Peuse v. Malkuch (1996), 275 Mont. 221, 911 P.2d 1153.   The District Court then issued an order of reconsideration denying Park County's original motion to amend its answers o interrogatories.  In the order of reconsideration, the District Court found that Eagle Ridge went to considerable effort and expense before filing its motion for summary judgment, and that it shared its research with the County prior to initiation of this lawsuit in order to convince the County that the road was not a county road created by petition
                

DISCUSSION

Did the District Court err by not allowing Park County to amend its answers to interrogatories after Eagle Ridge Ranch had filed a motion for summary judgment in reliance upon the original answers?

The issue presented here is one involving a district court's control of pretrial discovery. Discretionary rulings of a district court include trial administration issues, post-trial motions, and similar rulings. Montana Rail Link v. Byard (1993), 260 Mont. 331, 337, 860 P.2d 121, 125. The standard of review of discretionary trial court rulings is abuse of discretion. May v. First Nat'l Pawn Brokers, Ltd. (1995), 270 Mont. 132, 890 P.2d 386, 388. This discretion is reposed in the district court because it is in the best position to supervise the day-to-day operations of the pretrial discovery process. In re Marriage of Malquist (1994), 266 Mont. 447, 453, 880 P.2d 1357, 1361.

Park County contends that the District Court's order of reconsideration should be reversed and that it should be allowed to amend its answers. The County argues that Eagle Ridge will not be prejudiced if the County is given the opportunity to amend its answers to Interrogatories 2 and 3, despite the fact that Eagle Ridge filed a motion for summary judgment.

Eagle Ridge counters that it expended a considerable amount of time and money before litigation was filed in attempting to convince Park County that the road had not been created by petition. It was not until Eagle Ridge filed its motion for summary judgment that the county acknowledged that the road had not been created by petition.

Rule 33, M.R.Civ.P., authorizes use of interrogatories for the purpose of pretrial discovery from an adverse party. This rule is liberally construed to make all relevant facts available to parties in advance of trial, and to reduce the possibilities of surprise and unfair advantage. Wolfe v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co. (1966), 147 Mont. 29, 409 P.2d 528.

In reconsidering its order allowing Park County to amend its answers to interrogatories, the District Court relied on Peuse v. Malkuch (1996), 275 Mont. 221, 911 P.2d 1153, 911 P.2d 1153. Peuse involved a suit for specific performance of a real estate purchase. The defendants filed their answer to the complaint, setting forth two affirmative defenses. After the plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment, the defendants raised two questions of fact that had not been raised in their answer. As a result, the defendants filed a motion requesting leave to file an amended answer. This Court affirmed both the District Court's refusal to grant the defendant's motion to file an amended answer and the granting of plaintiff's motion for summary judgment.

In Peuse, 275 Mont. at 227, 911 P.2d at 1156, we discussed the application of Rule 15(a), M.R.Civ.P., and stated that "[a] party may amend its pleading by leave of court and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires. An opportunity to amend a pleading is not appropriate, however, when the party opposing the amendment would incur substantial prejudice as a result of the amendment." We further stated in Peuse that a court can deny a motion for an amendment for apparent reasons "such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by allowance of the amendment, futility of the amendments, etc." Peuse, 275 Mont. at 227, 911 P.2d at 1156-57. We hold that the legal conclusions in Peuse regarding amendment to pleadings is controlling in this case regarding the amendments to answers to interrogatories.

Park County argues that Eagle Ridge will not be prejudiced if the County is allowed to amend its answers to the interrogatories. It states that Eagle Ridge has failed to establish that the County had any dilatory motive in requesting to amend its answer to requests for discovery. Also, it argues that Eagle Ridge has failed to show that it would be substantially prejudiced by the County's request to amend its answer to requests for discovery. The County asserts that the mere fact that Eagle Ridge has expended monies for attorneys should not suffice for a showing of prejudice.

Eagle Ridge maintains that it expended a considerable amount of time and money before litigation was filed in an attempt to convince Park County that the road in question had not been created by petition. Its effort was ignored by the County. After Eagle Ridge filed this litigation, the County continued to persist in its position that the road in question had been created by petition. The County finally acknowledged that the road had not been created by petition when Eagle Ridge filed its motion for summary judgment.

The County believes that Peuse is...