State ex rel. Reynolds v. Allman
| Decision Date | 17 April 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 8139,8139 |
| Citation | 1967 NMSC 78,78 N.M. 1,427 P.2d 886 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico ex rel. S. E. REYNOLDS, State Engineer, Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District and Hagerman Canal Company, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. C. ALLMAN, Rogers Aston and LaDora Lucas, Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Bert Aston, Deceased et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
In 1956, the State of New Mexico on the relation of S. E. Reynolds, State Engineer, joined with Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District in bringing suit under the provisions of §§ 75--4--4 and 75--4--6, N.M.S.A.1953, to adjudicate the rights to water in the Roswell Artesian Basin. The action had numerous defendants and was numbered 20294 on the docket of the district court of Chaves County. It will be herein referred to as the Lewis case.
In 1958 the same plaintiffs brought another suit with similar purposes, in which Hagerman Canal Company, Inc. and others were defendants. This case was numbered 22600 on the docket of the district court of Chaves County and will hereinafter be referred to as the Hagerman case.
When commenced, the Lewis case named a number of defendants but stated that a hydrographic survey was being conducted and when completed would be filed in court and, thereupon, additional parties should be added on motion of plaintiffs. The survey was completed, township by township, and, as completed, parties were added as prayed. A special master was appointed and testimony was taken concerning each claimant's rights, whereupon findings and conclusions were made by the special master who recommended their adoption by the court. Decrees were duly entered thereon by the court and a number of appeals perfected therefrom.
In State ex rel. Reynolds v. Sharp, 66 N.M. 192, 344 P.2d 943 (1959), we were called upon to determine whether the procedure followed in the trial court was proper, and whether the decree as to each individual claimant was final and appealable under Supreme Court Rule 5 (§ 21--2--1(5), N.M S.A.1953). We there held that the adopted method of proceeding was 'a substantial compliance with the requirements of the adjudication statutes, and a reasonable and practical way to accomplish the desired purposes. * * *' We further determined that each decree was final and appealable while, at the same time, stating that 'nothing remained for the final degree except to incorporate the same and fix the priority.'
Appellants assert that the Hagerman case was a declaratory judgment proceeding and involved both surface and underground rights, and accordingly differed from the Lewis case. However, we are impressed that while differing somewhat in its allegations, the purpose of the Hagerman case was to have adjudicated the rights of the named defendants in the surface and underground waters of the Roswell Artesian Basin, which appellee asserts are both identical water from the artesian basin under the doctrine of Templeton v. Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District, 65 N.M. 59, 332 P.2d 465 (1958).
Although the Lewis case sought only adjudication of the 'waters' of the Roswell Artesian Basin, and the Hagerman case sought adjudication of rights to both the 'surface and underground waters,' since both are claimed to have the same artesian source we perceive of no material differences in the relief sought. Of course, if any additional adjudications were contemplated or undertaken concerning separate waters, the rights of any parties in the artesian basin waters would in no way be affected thereby.
After the special master in the Hagerman case made his findings, conclusions and recommendations, and the special master in the Lewis case (they were the same individual) had done likewise concerning each water right there considered, the two cases were consolidated by order of the court. Prior to that time the appellants, being defendants in the Lewis case, had not been parties in the Hagerman case and had no notice of the proceedings therein.
The consolidation order was signed October 6, 1965, and was entered nunc pro tunc as of September 22, 1965. On November 3, 1965 the appellants filed motions seeking reopening of the adjudication of their rights in the Lewis case and, at the same time, filed objections to the findings and conclusions of the special master in the Hagerman case which had been duly approved by the court. All motions were overruled before entry of the judgment and decree here appealed. The motions were all directed primarily at one issue, viz., whereas the water rights decreed to appellants in the Lewis case carried a priority date as of the commencement of the well being adjudicated, without consideration being given to whether the right should have an earlier priority by virtue of the doctrine of relation back, the well rights adjudicated to the Hagerman Canal Company carried a priority date related back to the commencement of the ditch whereby the beneficial use was accomplished. It is appellants' theory that they were denied their day in court because not permitted to establish the priority date of their wells as the time when water was first applied to the land. There can be no doubt that due process requires all who may be bound or affected by a decree are entitled to notice and hearing, so that they may have their day in court. City of Albuquerque v. Reynolds, 71 N.M. 428, 379 P.2d 73 (1963). The appellants should have been given a full opportunity to establish the applicability of the doctrine of relation back in showing a priority date to be that of an original appropriation of water from the same source as that of their wells. Templetion v. Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District, supra; State ex rel. Reyholds v. Mendenhall, 68 N.M. 467, 362 P.2d 998 (1961).
The findings of the special master in the Hagerman case, duly approved by the court in that case, determined that the artesian wells being used as a supply by the Canal Company were merely a continuation of the original appropriation from the same source, and should be given the same priority date as the original appropriation related back to the commencement of the Canal project.
Appellants argue that they had made earlier beneficial use of waters on the land now being irrigated from the...
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Office of State Engineer v. Lewis
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