Leonard McEwan

This case involves disputes between neighboring landowners over the Cooley Ditch, a private irrigation system diverting water from Chugwater Creek in Platte County, Wyoming, including questions of the ditch's length and location, ownership, rights to use it for conveying water appropriations, and responsibility for maintenance costs. The court held that the ditch runs from a specified headgate on Chugwater Creek to its junction with the Enlargement of the Chugwater Ditch No. 1, is jointly owned by Bard Ranch, Inc. and the Webers, and may be used by both parties, with Bard Ranch entitled to convey 2.76 c.f.s. (potentially up to 5.52 c.f.s. under statute) based on contractual and historic rights, and the Webers entitled to the remaining ditch capacity of 39.68 c.f.s. Maintenance expenses are to be shared proportionally according to the acres each party irrigates with water from the ditch. The rulings rest on evidence of the ditch's 1914 construction, related water permits, prior maps and appropriations, and Wyoming statutes on ditch usage and changes in points of diversion, with directions for the district court to further address certain rights and augment the record as needed.

propertyenvironment

In Haley v. Dreesen, a passenger (Dreesen) sued the driver (Haley) for injuries sustained when the car left the road after the driver was distracted by her young son in the backseat; the primary purpose of the trip was for the driver to collect unemployment benefits, and the passenger accompanied her to supervise the child. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the jury verdict awarding damages to the passenger. The court reasoned that the passenger was not a guest under the state's guest statute because she conferred a substantial material benefit on the driver by providing childcare assistance during the trip, and it upheld admission of the driver's guilty plea to a related traffic violation as an admission against interest in the civil case.

torts & liabilityprocedure

In Wells v. Jeep Corporation, the plaintiff sought damages for injuries from a vehicle accident, claiming Jeep was negligent and strictly liable for defective design in the positioning of the brake and accelerator pedals, which allegedly allowed a driver's foot to overlap or slip between them. The trial court granted summary judgment to Jeep, and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed. The court held that the plaintiff failed to establish the required standard of conduct or duty for the manufacturer under precedent like Maxted v. Pacific Car & Foundry Company, as expert affidavits offered only conclusions without factual support for a design defect, and the accident resulted from the driver's attempt to brake while half in and half out of the idling vehicle rather than any manufacturing issue. Manufacturers have no duty to make accident-proof or foolproof products, and evidence of later design changes did not prove prior negligence.

torts & liability

The case involved challenges to the Wyoming state committee's order creating a four-district reorganization plan for Fremont County's schools after rejecting several county-submitted plans under the 1969 School District Organization Law. The court reversed the district court's judgment upholding the plan and remanded the matter to the county committee for further review and submission of a new plan. It held that school districts had no standing to intervene or appeal under the statute's limits to citizens or taxpayers, that reorganization proceedings are non-contested legislative matters not subject to trial-type hearings in district court, and that the state committee's plan unlawfully departed from the education code's rules on tuition and pupil admissions for districts without high schools.

procedure

The case involved teachers appealing a district court judgment that denied them recovery of one-half month's pay deducted from their salaries upon termination of their teaching contracts with the Worland School District. The Wyoming Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on its own motion because the notice of appeal was not filed within the required thirty days from the entry of the judgment, as the thirtieth day fell on a Sunday and filing occurred the following day. The court reasoned that under Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure 73(a) and related rules, timely filing of the notice of appeal is a strict mandatory requirement, with no excusable neglect exception invoked here, and that noncompliance must be addressed regardless of whether raised by the parties.

procedure