US v. City of Challis, 24560.
| Decision Date | 01 October 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 24560.,24560. |
| Citation | 988 P.2d 1199,133 Idaho 525 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | In re SRBA, Case No. 39576, Multiple-Use Sustained-yield Act Claims, Consolidated Subcase No. 63-25239. UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. CITY OF CHALLIS, City of Salmon, Amalgamated Sugar Co., Basic American, Inc., City of Pocatello, Lamb-Weston, Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., Shearer Lumber Products, Harrison Canal Co., Egin Bench Canal, Inc., Progressive Irrigation District, New Sweden Irrigation District, Enterprise Irrigation District, North Fremont Canal Systems, Inc., Burgess Canal & Irrigation Co., Idaho Irrigation District, Snake River Valley Irrigation District, Peoples Canal & Irrigation Co., A & B Irrigation District, Burley Irrigation District, Twin Falls Canal Co., North Side Canal Co., State of Idaho and Hecla Mining Company, Respondents. |
Betty Richardson, United States Attorney, Boise; Jeffrey C. Dobbins, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for appellant United States of America. Jeffrey C. Dobbins, argued.
Beeman & Hofstetter, P.C., Boise, for respondents City of Challis, City of Salmon, Amalgamated Sugar Co., Basic American, Inc., City of Pocatello, Lamb-Weston, Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., Shearer Lumber Products.
Rigby, Thatcher, Andrus, Rigby, Kam & Moeller, Chtd., Rexburg, for respondents Harrison Canal Co., Egin Bench Canal, Inc., Progressive Irrigation District, New Sweden Irrigation District, Enterprise Irrigation District, North Fremont Canal Systems, Inc., Burgess Canal & Irrigation Co., Idaho Irrigation District, Snake River Valley Irrigation District, Peoples Canal & Irrigation Co., A & B Irrigation District, Burley Irrigation District, Twin Falls Canal Co., North Side Canal Company.
Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Clive Strong, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent State of Idaho. Clive Strong argued.
Root & Schindler, P.C., Denver, for respondent Hecla Mining Co. Thomas E. Root argued.
This is an appeal from an order denying summary judgment to the appellant, the United States, for federal reserved water rights claims based on the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 and from an order granting Rule 54(b) certification. We affirm both orders.
This appeal arises out of the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA), a suit for general adjudication of water rights in the Snake River water basin. At issue are thirty-seven1 claims by the United States for water rights within the Boise, Payette, Clearwater, Nez Perce, Sawtooth, and Salmon-Challis National Forests in Idaho. The claims are based upon the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (MUSYA) and were consolidated as Subcase No. 63-25239. See Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, 16 U.S.C. §§ 528-531 (1985). The United States claims a priority date for those water rights as of MUSYA's enactment, June 12, 1960. The majority of the claims are also based on an alternative state law appropriative water right. See footnote 1.
The United States asserts that MUSYA provides a basis for non-consumptive, instream flows to allow for water to remain in streams and lakes for the purpose of protecting recreational values, fish and wildlife. Upstream water rights could potentially be curtailed if the claims were granted; however, downstream users would be allowed to divert water.
The MUSYA claims were originally filed in 1993. At the time of filing, the United States combined its state law and federal law claims in one notice. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) subsequently split the claims because both claims would be reported and investigated separately. The United States later moved the district court to allow for amending the claims to reflect that the claims represented a singular claim with two different supporting theories. The district court granted the United States' motion to allow for amending the claims.
On February 27, 1997, the State of Idaho (the State) filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that MUSYA did not establish a basis for an implied federal reserved water right. A number of objectors joined in the State's motion for summary judgment. The United States also filed a motion for summary judgment on April 18, 1997, asserting that no material facts were in dispute as to the United States' entitlement under MUSYA to federal reserved water rights for the purposes specified in MUSYA. After hearing argument on the cross-motions for summary judgment on May 20, 1997, the SRBA District Court entered an Order Granting and Denying the United States' Motions for Summary Judgment on Reserved Water Rights Claims. The district court held that as a matter of law, the United States was not entitled to a federal reserved water right under MUSYA.2 The district court found that MUSYA did not create a reservation of land and that absent a reservation for specific MUSYA purposes, the MUSYA purposes were secondary and could not support an implied reservation of water.
On January 29, 1998, the district court, sua sponte, determined that I.R.C.P. 54(b) certification was proper for the federal reserved water right MUSYA claims. Specifically, the district court found that the claims were fully severable from the state law-based claims and therefore constituted final judgment. A subsequent motion for reconsideration of the court's order granting Rule 54(b) certification filed by the United States was denied. The United States now appeals to this Court.
The fact that the district court certifies a judgment as final and appealable under Rule 54(b) does not restrict the Court's right to review the matter. Rife v. Long, 127 Idaho 841, 844, 908 P.2d 143, 146 (1995). In order for a partial summary judgment to be certified as final and appealable under Rule 54(b), the order granting partial judgment must finally remove one or more of the claims between some or all of the parties, otherwise, the certification is in error. Thorn Creek Cattle Ass'n, Inc., v. Bonz, 122 Idaho 42, 45, 830 P.2d 1180, 1183 (1992) (citing Toney v. Coeur d'Alene Sch. Dist. No. 271, 117 Idaho 785, 786, 792 P.2d 350, 351 (1990)).
Initially, we note that in presenting the factual and procedural background to this case, we determined that because the United States had withdrawn the state law portion of nine of the claims, those claims on appeal are asserted only under federal law and are not supported by an alternative state law basis. See footnote 1, supra. Our determination in that regard effectively resolves the Rule 54(b) certification issue because the United States' argument against certification, that the district court's decision did not finally dispose of any of the claims due to the remaining alternative state law bases for the claims, at least for nine of the claims, no longer exists. Accordingly, we are able to address whether MUSYA provides a basis for federal reserved water rights and we need not determine whether the district court erred in holding that the MUSYA claims were appropriate for Rule 54(b) certification.
However, we find it important to note that even if all of the claims comprising Subcase No. 63-25239 were based on both federal and state law, Rule 54(b) certification, in this instance, would be proper. Although the United States presents a valid argument that the water rights claimed in this appeal are essentially single claims with alternative legal bases, and thus, not final and appealable under Rule 54(b), the Rule must operate differently within the SRBA. The SRBA is essentially one large case, which will resolve myriad water right disputes within the Snake River water basin. In that regard, each case that goes before the SRBA district court is arguably not a final disposition of any claim because each claim can potentially be affected by on-going and subsequent resolution of factual and legal disputes regarding the basin. Moreover, in this case, the district judge did not have before him the state law claims at the time of his decision on the MUSYA claims because the state law claims were being investigated by the IDWR and had not yet been reported. Therefore, the district court could not have resolved, at that time, the state law-based claims. To that end, when the district court denied summary judgment to the United States on the MUSYA claims, those claims were fully and finally resolved as to their basis in federal law and, accordingly, final and appealable under Rule 54(b).
We also acknowledge, and agree with, the district court's reasoning behind certification. Namely, we recognize the court's attempt to advance the SRBA litigation by allowing the MUSYA claims to be appealed along with the Wilderness Act claims and HCNRA claims decided in the same order. Indeed, as the district court noted, Accordingly, because of the unique procedural aspects of the SRBA, the federal law-based claims were properly certified under Rule 54(b).
When reviewing a trial court's ruling on a summary judgment motion, the Court should employ "the same standard properly employed by the district court when originally ruling on the motion." Lamb v. Manweiler, 129 Idaho 269, 271-72, 923 P.2d 976, 978-79 (1996) (citing Friel v. Boise City Hous. Auth., 126 Idaho 484, 485, 887 P.2d 29, 30 (1994)). Summary judgment is proper only when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 271, 923 P.2d at 978 (citing I.R.C.P. 56(c); Mutual of Enumclaw v. Box, 127 Idaho 851, 852, 908 P.2d 153, 154 (1995)). The record must be...
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