PETITIONERS I-549 v. MISSOULA IRRIGATION DISTRICT

• Decision Date: 19 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-286.,04-286.
• Citation: 111 P.3d 664,2005 MT 100,326 Mont. 527
• Parties: PETITIONERS I-549, Petitioners and Respondents, v. MISSOULA IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Respondent and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

111 P.3d 664

2005 MT 100

326 Mont. 527

PETITIONERS I-549, Petitioners and Respondents, v. MISSOULA IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Respondent and Appellant.

No. 04-286.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs November 30, 2004.

Decided April 19, 2005.

For Appellant: Richard R. Buley, Tipp & Buley, Missoula, Montana.

For Respondents: Susan A. Firth, Deputy City Attorney, Missoula, Montana (Missoula Housing Authority); Charles M. Hegman, Janice M. Hegman, pro se, Missoula, Montana; Lon J. Dale, Milodragovich Dale Steinbrenner & Binney, Missoula, Montana (Lon J. Dale & Pamela J. Dale); W. Carl Mendenhall, Worden & Thane, Missoula, Montana (Curt & Deborah Aasved; Edward C. and Carol M. Knudson); James E. Aiken, Jardine Stephensen Blewett & Weaver, Great Falls, Montana (Mary Kathryn Scott); Christian T. Nygren, Milodragovich Dale Steinbrenner & Binney, Missoula, Montana (Christian and Julia Nygren).

Justice PATRICIA O. COTTER delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 The Missoula Irrigation District ("MID") appeals from various Notices of Entry of Decrees Granting Exclusion from the MID for numerous petitioners, entered in the Fourth Judicial District Court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

ISSUES

¶ 2 We restate the issues as follows:

¶ 3 1. Did the District Court deny the MID due process by granting petitions for exclusion from the MID based upon unsupported findings of fact submitted by the Standing Master?

¶ 4 2. Did the District Court have the authority to order the MID to reimburse back taxes?

¶ 5 3. Did the District Court abuse its discretion when it refused to allow the MID to amend its response?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 6 The MID was created in 1922 as a successor to a consolidated irrigation ditch, in order to operate, maintain, and administrate the irrigation district. Although there was a statutory process which predated the MID's creation by which landowners could petition for exclusion from an irrigation district, in 1997 the Montana legislature enacted temporary legislation which made the exclusion requirements less stringent within a certain type of irrigation district. From 1997 until December 31, 1998, approximately 550 parties petitioned for exclusion of their land from the MID, pursuant to § 85-7-1846, MCA (1997). The District Court consolidated the petitions for purposes of determining the issues of law and developing a procedure to dispose of each petition.

¶ 7 Beginning with Geil v. Missoula Irrigation Dist., 2002 MT 269, 312 Mont. 320, 59 P.3d 398 ("Geil I"), and continuing through RSG Holdings v. Missoula Irrigation Dist., 2004 MT 214, 322 Mont. 369, 96 P.3d 1131 ("RSG"); Geil v. Missoula Irrigation Dist., 2004 MT 217, 322 Mont. 388, 96 P.3d 1127 ("Geil II"); and Larango v. Missoula Irrigation Dist., 2004 MT 369, 324 Mont. 534, 103 P.3d 552 ("Larango"), this Court has considered multiple issues raised by and between the various parties. A detailed factual background was set forth by this Court in Geil I and has been elaborated upon as necessary in each subsequent proceeding. We continue to do so here, setting forth such facts as are pertinent to this Opinion in the Discussion below.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 8 We review a district court's findings of fact to determine whether they are clearly erroneous. Matter of Clark Fork River Drainage Area (1992), 254 Mont. 11, 14, 833 P.2d 1120, 1122 ("Clark Fork") (citation omitted). A finding is clearly erroneous if it is not supported by substantial evidence, if the court misapprehended the effect of the evidence, or if our review of the record convinces us that the court made a mistake. Clark Fork, 254 Mont. at 14-15, 833 P.2d at 1122 (citation omitted).

¶ 9 In reviewing a district court's conclusions of law, our standard of review is plenary and this Court must determine whether its interpretation of the law is correct. RSG, ¶ 9 (citation omitted). We review a district court's denial of a motion to amend the pleadings to determine whether the district court abused its discretion. RSG, ¶ 9 (citation omitted).

DISCUSSION

ISSUE ONE

¶ 10 Did the District Court deny the MID due process by granting petitions for exclusion from the MID based upon unsupported findings of fact submitted by the Standing Master?

¶ 11 Under § 85-7-1802(2), MCA (1997), owners of tracts of land three acres or smaller which are not served by any irrigation district canal, system, facility, or other undertaking may petition to exclude their tracts from an established irrigation district, pursuant to the process set forth in § 85-7-1846, MCA (1997). A person holding title to a tract of land meeting the criteria in § 85-7-1802(2), MCA (1997), may petition the district court for an exclusion. The petition must include, among other things, a statement that the tract's users do not and cannot feasibly obtain water from the irrigation district through existing irrigation works. Section 85-7-1846(1)(e), MCA (1997).

¶ 12 In its Brief, the MID draws our attention to nineteen petitions which the MID claims were improperly excluded from the MID because the Standing Master made inaccurate or unsupported findings of fact which were in turn upheld by the District Court. Calling our attention to a map entitled "Missoula Irrigation District Petitioners and Access as Surveyed by Missoula City/County Health Department Summer of 1995," which was submitted by the MID and admitted as Exhibit 1 in the proceedings below ("Map"), the MID argues that the Map clearly shows that the properties affected by these particular nineteen petitions all have actual access to MID ditches, and thus fail to qualify for exclusion under § 85-7-1846, MCA (1997).

¶ 13 The MID points out that 119 of the 549 petitions for exclusion were heard, and argues that the court should not have granted the 430 petitions which were not heard. Furthermore, it argues that all 549 petitions were granted regardless of whether the petitioners presented any evidence in support of their petitions. In fact, argues the MID, even when evidence was presented which showed that a petitioner had access to the MID's irrigation works, the Standing Master still granted the petition, in contravention of the applicable statutes.

¶ 14 Although it appears that the MID would like this Court to reverse and remand the orders granting exclusion on all 549 petitions, the MID has not put forth any grounds for us to do so. It is undisputed that many petitioners did not appear for a hearing. However, under § 85-7-1846(5), MCA (1997), it is only if the MID files a valid objection to a particular petition that a hearing need be held in the first place. Moreover, § 85-7-1846(6), MCA (1997), provides that the court shall grant a petition for exclusion if no objections are filed within fifteen days of the filing of such a petition. Therefore a perfectly good reason supports granting many of the petitions without hearing.

¶ 15 Our review of the record indicates that many of the 549 petitions were not disputed by the MID at the hearings level, and were thus never scheduled for hearings. It is not this Court's obligation to comb the record for each of the 549 petitions to determine which were heard, which were scheduled for a hearing but not heard, and which were never scheduled for a hearing at all. A district court's decision is presumed to be correct and it is the appellant who bears the burden of establishing that the court erred. Hawkins v. Harney, 2003 MT 58, ¶ 35, 314 Mont. 384, ¶ 35, 66 P.3d 305, ¶ 35. The MID, as the appellant, has the burden of establishing error by the trial court in each case it contests. Thus, we will limit our inquiry to those nineteen petitions specifically disputed in the MID's Brief.

¶ 16 Concerning the nineteen petitions the MID disputes, the MID argues that the Map shows these properties to have access to the MID's irrigation ditches. It maintains the Standing Master erroneously found that these properties did not have access to the MID's works, which caused the District Court to conclude incorrectly that these petitions were eligible for exclusion pursuant to §§ 85-7-1802 and -1846, MCA (1997).

¶ 17 The Map illustrates the MID's coverage area and designates the MID's ditches and other irrigation works. Additionally, all the parcels of land represented within the 549 petitions are numbered and color-coded on the Map. The Map's key explains the color codes, with various designations including "Access, Using," "Access, Not Using," and "No Access, Not Using." Ten of the nineteen properties specifically disputed in the MID's Brief are designated on the Map-the MID's own Exhibit-as "No Access, Not Using," and an eleventh is designated partially as "No Access, Not Using" and partially as "Not Surveyed." In other words, the MID has placed into evidence a document which illustrates that these properties have "No Access" and are "Not Using" the MID's irrigation ditches. Thus for the MID to claim now that the Standing Master erred by finding that these properties have no access and are not using the MID's irrigation ditches is illogical and unsupported by the MID's own Exhibit. As the MID has not provided any evidence that the District Court erred in upholding the Standing Master's findings and conclusions with respect to these eleven petitions, Hawkins, ¶ 35, we therefore affirm the District Court on all but the eight petitions which are discussed below.

¶ 18 The petitioners behind the eight petitions remaining to be resolved in this Opinion filed the necessary documents and requested exclusion of their properties from the MID in a timely manner, pursuant to §§ 85-7-1802 and -1846, MCA (1997). Although the MID apparently asserted at the hearing level that several of these petitions were deficient, it has not supplied such petitions for our review. We turn to the record as it appears before us to determine whether the MID correctly contends that the findings regarding these particular petitions were...