State Ex Rel. Martinez v. McDermett

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

The State Engineer appeals from an order of the district court in favor of Jean Jo McDermett and J.B. McLean (Defendants), determining that Defendants established a priority date for water rights to an artesian well owned by Defendants and appurtenant to their eighty-four-acre tract. On appeal the State Engineer argues that the district court erred in finding that (1) Defendants had proved that their priority date to appropriate water related back to 1907, (2) Defendants and their predecessors in title had diligently applied water to a beneficial use, and (3)…