Utah Court of Appeals hears Hall v. Hobble Creek over whether 1940s deeds conveyed 'flood water' rights

The Utah Court of Appeals heard oral argument in two consolidated appeals, Hall v. Hobble Creek (Nos. 20220794 and 20220795), on whether deeds from the 1940s conveyed perpetual water rights or a narrower "flood water" interest and whether a municipal corporation in the chain of title precludes later owners from claiming those rights.

The question matters to landowners who say they rely on artesian springs and other local sources for irrigation and livestock and to Springville City, which purchased land and related water shares in the 1940s as part of a municipal water project. Appellant counsel Jamie Carpenter told the panel the deeds’ language and administrative records create disputed factual issues that should preclude summary judgment and require a trial. "The deeds themselves that the city has relied on...state in the deeds, the plain language that the city did not buy all water and water rights. There was a flood water right that was accepted from the sale of the land," Carpenter said.

The appeals arise from a long-running general stream adjudication that began in the 1930s and produced a proposed determination in 1986. According to filings and argument, landowners’ predecessors conveyed land and irrigation shares to Springville Irrigation Company in the 1920s and conveyed later to Springville City in the early 1940s. The 1944 conveyance to a buyer named Phillips used the phrase "except flood…