State ex rel. Office of the State Engineer v. Elephant Butte Irrigation District

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} The bifurcated part of this case involving solely the issues of abandonment and forfeiture of water rights was tried by a special master. A special master determined that Defendants’ irrigation rights were abandoned and forfeited, and recommended “that the [c]ourt enter judgment determining that [Defendants . . . have no surface or [groundwater] rights appurtenant to the Property for the purpose of irrigationf.]” The district court adopted the special master’s report in its entirety. Defendants raise several points of error on appeal of the court’s order adopting the…