Heilig v. Wyoming Game and Fish Com'n, 02-41.
Citation | 2003 WY 27,64 P.3d 734 |
Decision Date | 28 February 2003 |
Docket Number | No. 02-41.,02-41. |
Parties | Daniel HEILIG, Appellant (Plaintiff), v. WYOMING GAME AND FISH COMMISSION, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and John Baughman, Director, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Appellees (Defendants). |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming |
Daniel F. Heilig, Lander, Wyoming, pro se.
Hoke MacMillan, Attorney General; Thomas J. Davidson, Deputy Attorney General; and Lynda G. Cook, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Representing Appellees.
Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.
[¶ 1] Daniel Heilig, an attorney and avid hunter, filed a pro se declaratory judgment action in the Ninth Judicial District Court asserting Chapter 2, Section 12 of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's (Game and Fish) general hunting regulations was null and void, unenforceable, and invalid ab initio because Game and Fish had not complied with the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 16-3-101 to -115 (LexisNexis 2001)) (WAPA) in incorporating its 2000 Walk-In Areas Hunting publication (Atlas) by reference into its rules and regulations. Prior to the declaratory judgment action being filed, a criminal action was filed against Mr. Heilig in the Big Horn County Circuit Court alleging he failed to obtain landowner consent to hunt in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 23-3-305(b) (LexisNexis 2001). The criminal matter was pending on appeal to the Fifth Judicial District Court and presented the same legal issues as the declaratory judgment complaint. The Ninth Judicial District Court granted Game and Fish's motion to dismiss the declaratory judgment action finding the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and Mr. Heilig was not adversely affected in fact. We affirm the dismissal on different grounds because the declaratory judgment was not consistent with the circumstances in which we have allowed multiple similar actions to proceed.
[¶ 2] We rephrase the issue as follows: Did the Ninth Judicial District Court abuse its discretion by dismissing the declaratory judgment action?
[¶ 3] Game and Fish began to develop a program in 1998 intended to make hunting on private lands available to the public through agreements with private landowners. The landowners stipulate the species for which they will permit access and the time frame within established hunting seasons in which the public will be allowed access on their private lands. We will refer to this as the Walk-In Area Program.
[¶ 4] On November 5, 2000, Mr. Heilig was hunting pheasants in Walk-In Area No. 28 located in Big Horn County. The area was not designated for pheasant hunting by the Atlas, and Mr. Heilig had not asked for nor received the landowner's permission to hunt pheasants. He was cited by a Game and Fish warden and prosecuted in the circuit court of the Fifth Judicial District for allegedly violating § 23-3-305(b)1 by entering private property in Big Horn County to hunt without the landowner's permission—a seventh degree misdemeanor. These facts are not in dispute.
[¶ 5] In February of 2001, Mr. Heilig filed a motion to dismiss the criminal action contending in part that Game and Fish's rules and regulations for the Walk-In Area Program were void because they were improperly promulgated and were unconstitutional. On April 24, 2001, the circuit court denied the motion, and Mr. Heilig entered a conditional guilty plea under W.R.Cr.P. 11(a)(2)2 and appealed the denial of his motion to dismiss to the Fifth Judicial District Court. On the same day, the parties filed a joint motion requesting the circuit court to certify specific questions to the Fifth Judicial District Court and identified these legal issues:
The status of the appeal to the Fifth Judicial District Court is unclear, but it appears from the designated record to be pending.
[¶ 6] On April 6, 2001, Mr. Heilig filed a pro se declaratory judgment action in the Ninth Judicial District Court setting out claims we paraphrase as follows:
[¶ 7] Through this action, Mr. Heilig requested the Ninth Judicial District Court: (1) declare Game and Fish's rules (Chapter 2, Section 12) and Atlas null and void, unenforceable, invalid ab initio, and unconstitutional; (2) issue an injunction precluding enforcement under the rules; and (3) award him attorney fees. Game and Fish filed a motion to dismiss alleging Mr. Heilig did not have standing and was endeavoring to forum shop because these issues were before the circuit court of the Fifth Judicial District. The Ninth Judicial District Court granted Game and Fish's motion holding that Mr. Heilig did not have standing to file the complaint because he was not affected in fact by the rule. This appeal followed.
[¶ 8] The declaratory judgment action was dismissed because the district court found Mr. Heilig lacked standing. We agree dismissal was proper but on different grounds. This court must affirm the district court's action on appeal if it is sustainable on any legal ground appearing in the record even if the legal ground or theory articulated by the district court is incorrect. Masinter v. Markstein, 2002 WY 64, ¶ 8, 45 P.3d 237, ¶ 8 (Wyo.2002); Deisch v. Jay, 790 P.2d 1273, 1278 (Wyo.1990); Transamerica Commercial Finance Corporation v. Naef, 842 P.2d 539, 541 (Wyo.1992).
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