US v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., CV-D-183 BRT.
| Decision Date | 06 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. CV-D-183 BRT.,CV-D-183 BRT. |
| Parties | The UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. ALPINE LAND & RESERVOIR COMPANY, a corporation, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Nevada |
Fred Disheroon, Dept. of Justice, Land & Natural Resources, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.
Robert W. Marshall, Vargas & Bartlett, Reno, Nev., for defendants.
DECISION
The Alpine Land & Reservoir Company (Alpine) has moved to amend the final decree dated October 28, 1980, 503 F.Supp. 877, to reflect the correct storage capacities of four reservoirs: Kinney Meadows (Claim No. 800), Lower Kinney Lake (Claim No. 802), Wet Meadows (Claim No. 803), and Lower Sunset (Claim No. 804). The United States has filed objections.
In this action a temporary restraining order prepared by Special Master John V. Mueller was entered by the court on September 18, 1951. That restraining order specified the capacities of the aforesaid reservoirs as follows: Kinney Meadows, 435 acre feet; Lower Kinney Lake, 495 acre feet; Wet Meadows, 207 acre feet; Lower Sunset, 250 acre feet. The four reservoirs in question are located in the State of California. The temporary restraining order made no provision for authorizing construction of or increasing or decreasing the storage capacities of such reservoirs.
On August 3, 1950, Alpine filed an application with the State of California Department of Public Works Division of Water Resources to construct works to increase the capacity of Lower Kinney Lake reservoir to 920 acre feet. The application was approved on September 8, 1950, and the approved works were constructed and the capacity increased accordingly.
On April 3, 1952, Alpine filed a similar application to increase the capacity of Wet Meadows reservoir to 450 acre feet and it was approved.
On July 8, 1949, Alpine filed a similar application to increase the capacity of Kinney Meadows reservoir to 900 acre feet and it was approved.
On April 3, 1952, Alpine filed a similar application to increase the capacity of Lower Sunset reservoir to 860 acre feet and it was approved.
On July 14, 1958, the Special Master filed Amended Proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decree which expressly recognized and adopted the increased reservoir capacities of the four reservoirs in question. Thereafter the court set and reset the dates for filing objections to the report of the Special Master as amended and numerous objections were filed but the objections were never acted upon and resolved until the case was reactivated in the early 1970's. Meanwhile, waters were stored in and diverted from the four reservoirs in accordance with the capacities authorized by the Amended Proposed Findings of Fact, and Conclusions of Law and Decree filed by the Special Master. This use of water has continued from 1958 until today. The present problem is caused by the fact that when Special Master John V. Mueller entered the amended findings he made no supplementary evidentiary record (i.e. the California certificates) to support the amended findings.
In 1973, an attorney from the Department of Justice visited the court and suggested that this case should be reactivated and concluded. Accordingly, because such a long time had expired and the parties in interest had changed, notices were served and new times were fixed for filing objections to the report and findings and amended report and findings of the Special Master. The United States filed objections to the amended findings and proposed decree respecting the storage capacities of the four reservoirs in question upon the ground that there was no evidentiary support in the record for the increased capacities. Interim proceedings were had and orders entered resulting in the submission of the objections to the reports and findings of the Special Master on a written record consisting of the exhibits and testimony before the Special Master, supplemented by affidavits and exhibits filed on behalf of the parties and written briefs. The court's rulings on the objections to the Special Master's Findings on Acreage and Priorities were filed (with the Final Decree) on October 28, 1980. During all the foregoing proceedings between 1973 and 1980 Alpine did not participate and failed to come forward with its proofs of increased storage capacity. On January 14, 1991, Alpine, having been apprised of the possibility that it might be restricted to the storage capacities defined in the 1951 temporary restraining order, elected to file the instant petition to amend the Final Decree pursuant to Rule 60(b) Fed.R.Civ.P. and the court's reservation of jurisdiction.
The objections of the United States are procedural and jurisdictional — most of them sound and well reasoned.
Rule 60(b) Fed.R.Civ.P. provides:
On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party's legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment. The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken. A motion under this subdivision (b) does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding, or to grant relief to a defendant not actually personally notified as provided in Title 28, U.S.C., § 1655, or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court. Writs of coram nobis, coram vobis, audita querela, and bills of review and bills in the nature of a bill of review, are abolished, and the procedure for obtaining any relief from a judgment shall be by motion as prescribed in these rules or by an independent action.
Alpine contends that because this court reserved jurisdiction to "modify, amend, eliminate, add to or change any provision of this decree" there is no problem. This is not so. Such a reservation of jurisdiction is intended to speak prospectively to enable the court to modify the decree in the light of changed conditions not pertaining at the time of its entry. The provision does not permit relitigation of decided issues, else there would never be any finality to the proceedings. The United States correctly contends that the 1980 Final Decree is res judicata. Nevada v. United States, 463 U.S. 110, 103 S.Ct. 2906, 77 L.Ed.2d 509 (1983).
Alpine suggests that the United States will not be prejudiced, or adversely affected, by the remission of the reservoir capacities to their original entitlement; in a sense, that it has no standing to object. But this is patently not so. Any increase of decreed rights upstream from Lahontan reservoir will adversely impact the water entitlement of the United States in and below Lahontan reservoir.
Alpine also argues that it has been misled by officers of the court into a posture of inactivity, and cites inapposite authority in support. Alpine, however, cannot point to a single factor of misrepresentation which resulted in Alpine's failure and neglect to submit its opposition to the government's objections to the reservoir capacities prior to entry of the Final Decree in 1980.
Nevertheless, every judgment and decree of a federal court is pervious to a properly supported motion under Rule 60(b) Fed. R.Civ.P. and in this case, in the opinion of this court, Alpine has established facts which entitle it to relief under Rule 60(b) Fed.R.Civ.P.
There are six (6) subclauses in Rule 60(b). Admittedly, grounds (1), (2) and (3) are inapplicable to this case because of lack of factual support and because of the lapse of time. Ground (4) "that the judgment is void" is not relevant. Ground (5) that "it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application" cannot be applied in the light of the decision and discussion in Transgo, Inc. v. Ajac Transmission Parts Corp., 911 F.2d...
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U.S. v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co.
...its storage rights. The United States now appeals the district court's decision to grant that motion. United States v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., 769 F.Supp. 1142 (D.Nev.1991). The district court opinion contains most of the background of this dispute. Briefly summarized, the record demon......