W. JONES, Justice.
Brian Sopatyk petitions for judicial review of the Lemhi County Board of Commissioners'
Gibbonsville, Idaho, is located in Lemhi County, where the central portion of the state juts into Montana. The region was originally public federal land. In the 1860s and 1870s, prospectors discovered gold around what later became Gibbonsville, causing pioneers to begin flooding the area in 1876. They settled Gibbonsville where Anderson Creek runs south into Dahlonega Creek before Dahlonega flows west out of town. Two years later, in 1878, mineral prospectors formed a mining district and a committee to draw up and file a plat for the Gibbonsville townsite with the district. At some point, a road providing access to various mining claims had been constructed running north-south, parallel to Anderson Creek, as the miners' plat and an accompanying description identify a street running north up along Anderson Creek as Main Street. Today, the road is known as Anderson Creek Road ("ACR"). Over the years, the public was generally able to use the road, but it has deteriorated and is now overgrown with brush in some places.
Among the mineral claims that early prospectors filed were two long and narrow gold placers along Anderson Creek, one in 1879 and the other in 1881.
In 1998, the Lemhi County Board of Commissioners ("the Board") validated ACR as a public road. Sopatyk then filed a lawsuit against the County seeking a writ of prohibition. The district court ordered another hearing before the Board, which occurred in 2004. The Board unanimously validated ACR, finding that the road had been made public by territorial legislative declaration in 1881, an order of the County Commissioners in 1892, prescription, common law dedication, and under R.S. 2477, a federal statute allowing local and state governments to establish public roads on federal lands. After the Board's decision, Sopatyk requested and was granted another hearing before the Board in part to present evidence of bias on the part of Commissioner Joseph Proksch, who was Chairman at the time of the 2004 hearing and served as the hearing officer. After convening a third time to publicly deliberate the matter, this time without Proksch, the Board unanimously affirmed its decision and found that Commissioner Proksch was not biased.
Sopatyk petitioned for judicial review in the case,
On appeal from a validation decision in which the district court acted in an appellate capacity, this Court independently reviews the County record. Homestead Farms, Inc. v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 141 Idaho 855, 858, 119 P.3d 630, 633 (2005). Idaho Code section 40-208 governs judicial review of validation proceedings. Floyd v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 131 Idaho 234, 238, 953 P.2d 984, 988 (1998). It provides that this Court may reverse or modify the County's decision if the appellant's substantial rights have been prejudiced because the County's decisions are:
I.C. § 40-208(7). This Court will not substitute its judgment for that of the County as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact. Id. It will uphold the County's findings unless they are unsupported by substantial competent evidence. State Dep't of Health & Welfare v. Roe, 139 Idaho 18, 21, 72 P.3d 858, 861 (2003).
Section 8 of the Mining Act of 1866 provided: "The right of way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted." An Act Granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the Public Lands, and for Other Purposes, ch. 262, § 8, 14 Stat. 251, 253 (1866) (repealed 1976). This provision is more popularly known as R.S. 2477 due to its subsequent codification in the Revised Statutes as R.S. § 2477 (1873). The parties agree that, prior to July of 1897, when Sopatyk's predecessors in interest obtained a patent for the Anderson Placers, his
This Court has held that R.S. 2477 was a standing offer by the federal government to grant rights-of-way on public land to the states and that it can be an independent vehicle for creating a public road if there is "some positive act or acts on the part of the proper public authorities clearly manifesting an intention to accept such grant with respect to the particular highway in question." Farrell v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 138 Idaho 378, 384, 64 P.3d 304, 310 (2002) (quoting Kirk v. Schultz, 63 Idaho 278, 283, 119 P.2d 266, 268 (1941)). This standard is "more lax than the requirements set forth in the state road creation statute." Id. at 384, 64 P.3d at 310. In Farrell, this Court found R.S. 2477 satisfied because there was an entry in the County Commission's minutes log from 1901 expressly accepting a dedication of the disputed road. Id.
In this case, by contrast, there is no order or minute entry by the Board or any other order by a public authority accepting ACR as a public road. In 1878, however, a committee of local miners filed a plat with the mining district creating a road along Anderson Creek. The County asserts that even though the miners committee was an informal body, the plat is a positive act by a proper public authority for R.S. 2477 purposes because "[t]his is how things were done on Idaho's frontier."
The County erred as a matter of law by ruling that the miners committee could be a "public authority" with the power to create state rights-of-way on federal lands. There appears to be no legal authority suggesting that an informal, apparently unelected committee is empowered by state law to file plats creating public streets. This is especially true in light of the fact that years before the miners committee was formed, the Territorial Government had already created Lemhi County and its Board of Commissioners, which would have been the proper public authority for declaring roads in Gibbonsville. An Act Creating and Organizing the County of Lemhi, §§ 1, 3-4, Laws and Resolutions Passed by the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the Terr. of Idaho 734, 734-35 (1869).
State law governs the manner in which a road on federal property becomes public under R.S. 2477. Galli v. Idaho Cnty., 146 Idaho 155, 160, 191 P.3d 233, 238 (2008); accord Standage Ventures, Inc. v. Arizona, 499 F.2d 248, 250 (9th Cir.1974); United States v. Pruden, 172 F.2d 503, 505 (10th Cir.1949); Smith v. Mitchell, 21 Wn. 536, 540, 58 P. 667, 668 (1899) ("[Under R.S. 2477,] a highway may be established across or upon such public lands in any of the ways recognized by the law of the state in which such lands are located. ..."). This includes territorial laws relating to road creation. Galli, 146 Idaho at 160, 191 P.3d at 238.
Apparently, to help ensure that pioneers could access and settle Idaho's vast undeveloped areas, in 1881, the Territorial Legislature enacted legislation providing: "All roads or highways laid out or now traveled, or which have been commonly used by the public... in the several counties of this Territory, are hereby declared county roads." An Act Regulating Roads, Highways, and Public Thoroughfares in Idaho Terr., § 1, Gen. Laws of the Terr. of Idaho 277, 277-78 (repealed 1885). In other words, "all roads, trails, streets and thoroughfares, used as such, were highways." Kosanke v. Kopp, 74 Idaho 302, 305, 261 P.2d 815, 816 (1953) (referring to An Act Concerning Roads, Highways, Trains, and Public Thoroughfares, § 1, Compiled and Rev. Laws of the Terr. of Idaho 677, 677 (amended 1881), a virtually identical earlier enactment).
To satisfy the 1881 law, the use must be regular, not casual or desultory. Kirk v. Schultz, 63 Idaho 278, 282-84, 119 P.2d 266, 268-69 (1941). When determining if the public is using a road, direct evidence is not required, but "there must be sufficient circumstantial evidence to support any inferences." Galli, 146 Idaho at 160, 191 P.3d at 238.
There is substantial evidence that ACR existed in 1881. In 1878, a miners committee filed a plat depicting a seventy-five-foot-wide road labeled "Main Street" going north, flanked by numbered lots on each side, and
Further, there is also substantial evidence from which the Board could infer that the public commonly used ACR in 1881. A photograph dating to 1878 depicts two roads lined with structures intersecting in the center of Gibbonsville, one of which was undoubtedly ACR. Published historical accounts included in the record note that most of the mineral deposits around Gibbonsville had been found by the end of 1877, including a number of claims upstream from town along Anderson Creek. A deed specifically indicates that by 1881 at least four mining claims were located adjacent to or very near ACR along its whole length. It was reasonable for the Board to validate ACR because it was open and commonly used by the public in 1881.
Sopatyk responds that, even if ACR did become a public road, it was later passively abandoned.
Before 1963, the relevant statute provided: "A road not worked or used for the period of five years ceases to be a highway for any purpose whatever." Rev. Stat. of Idaho Terr. § 852 (1887) (repealed 1963).
The County had substantial evidence on which to find that Sopatyk could not meet the burden of showing that the road went unused for any five year period. Sopatyk gives no affirmative evidence that the public ceased using the road for any five year span before 1963. On the other hand, a U.S. Geological Survey report states that mining was active until 1908 in the Clara Morris group of mines, which lie at the end of ACR. The record contains letters and affidavits showing that the road was used for logging in the 1940s and mining in the 1920s through the 1970s. There was also evidence that someone built and lived in a cabin and maintained an orchard on ACR in 1937. Since 1906, ACR has accessed public forest lands, a reasonable basis upon which to infer that the public has been using the road for recreation
Sopatyk asserts that validating the road was an unconstitutional taking for which he has not been compensated. Article I, section 14 of the Idaho Constitution
As explained above, there was substantial evidence upon which the Board could find that ACR became a public road by legislative declaration in 1881. Sopatyk's predecessors in interest, by comparison, did not patent the Anderson Placers until 1897. Until that time, they did not actually own the land. Sopatyk's Takings Clause claim is therefore without merit, as neither he nor his predecessors have been deprived of any property. See Lucas v. S.C. Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1015, 112 S.Ct. 2886, 2893, 120 L.Ed.2d 798, 812 (1992) (stating that a taking occurs when the government "compel[s] the property owner to suffer a physical `invasion' of his property").
Although the Board validated ACR, Sopatyk complains that the Board at no point expressly explained why validating ACR was in the public interest. The Idaho Code mandates that after holding validation proceedings the Board "shall determine whether validation of the highway or public right-of-way is in the public interest" and enter an order accordingly. I.C. § 40-203A(3). This statute contrasts with the analogous section governing highway abandonment-and-vacation decisions under I.C. § 40-203(1)(h). That section provides that after a hearing to vacate a highway, the Board must issue an order, which "shall be written and shall be supported by findings of fact and conclusions of law." Section 40-203A(3) notably omits a specific requirement for written findings. This statutory requirement by its plain language governs the substantive standard the Board must apply when deciding whether to validate a road.
Likewise, the highway-validation statute is quite different from the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act, which requires that agency orders contain reasoned explanations of decisions and that factual findings "shall be accompanied by a concise and explicit statement of the underlying facts of record supporting the findings." I.C. § 67-5248(1)(a). It also differs from the Local Land Use Planning Act, which requires written decisions, reasoning, and citation to the facts relied upon in a decision. I.C. § 67-6535(2); Evans v. Teton Cnty., 139 Idaho 71, 80, 73 P.3d 84, 93 (2003).
This Court's role, therefore, is simply to determine whether it was clear error for the Board to determine that validating ACR was in the public interest. I.C. § 40-208(7); but cf. Jensen v. Siemsen, 118 Idaho 1, 5, 794 P.2d 271, 275 (1990) (reviewing for clear error the Industrial Commission's decision regarding whether an employee had left a job due to sexual harassment even though the Commission did not specifically make findings regarding good cause). This Court may therefore affirm the Board's order even though it does not cite specific facts to support its public-interest finding.
There is substantial evidence that validating ACR would be in the public interest. This road became public while the underlying land was federal property. The Legislature has recognized that "existing federal land rights of way are extremely important to all of Idaho's citizens. Two-thirds of Idaho's land is under control of the federal government
Sopatyk next argues that the Board lacks the authority to validate ACR because in some places it drifts onto land owned by the U.S. Forest Service. As described above, however, R.S. 2477 expressly permitted states to establish rights-of-way on federal land so long as the property is in the public domain. Galli, 146 Idaho at 159, 191 P.3d at 237. ACR became a public road by legislative declaration. It was not until 1906 that President Theodore Roosevelt created the Lemhi Forest Reserve, withdrawing the land around Gibbonsville from the public domain. Proclamation No. 672, 34 Stat. 3248, 3248-49 (Nov. 5, 1906).
Sopatyk notes that even if the County can validate ACR, the road's travelway is presently only about ten feet wide. He asserts that it was beyond the Board's statutory authority to validate ACR at fifty feet wide. As explained above in Parts V.A and V.B, the Board was correct to hold that ACR became a public road by legislative declaration. From 1887 forward, the Legislature mandated: "All highways, except alleys and bridges, must be at least fifty feet wide except those now existing of a less width." Rev. Stat. of Idaho § 932 (1887). This 1887 statute is the progenitor of today's I.C. § 40-2312, which similarly states: "All highways, except bridges and those located within cities, shall be not less than fifty (50) feet wide, except those of a lesser width presently existing."
Sopatyk last argues that Commissioner Proksch, the hearing officer during
Commissioner Proksch did not violate I.C. § 31-807A. The plain language of this statute applies only to county contracts for the opening or improving of roads. A validation proceeding, by contrast, does not involve any contract, but results in an order declaring a road to be, or not to be, public. I.C. § 40-203A(3). Validation proceedings therefore do not implicate road contracts. Sopatyk's argument regarding I.C. § 31-807A is therefore without merit.
Sopatyk requests attorney's fees on appeal under I.C. § 12-121. This Court has already explicitly held that I.C. § 12-117 is the exclusive means for seeking attorney's fees against the entities to which it applies. Smith v. Wash. Cnty., 150 Idaho 388, 392, 247 P.3d 615, 619 (2010); Potlatch Educ. Ass'n v. Potlatch Sch. Dist. No. 285, 148 Idaho 630, 635, 226 P.3d 1277, 1282 (2010). Sopatyk is therefore not entitled to attorney's fees.
The County requests attorney's fees under I.C. § 12-117. This section was amended in 2010 and now states:
I.C. § 12-117 (emphasis added). In Smith, this Court noted that, by amending section 12-117, the Legislature was likely responding to an earlier decision, Rammell v. Idaho State Dept. of Agric., 147 Idaho 415, 210 P.3d 523 (2009). Rammell found that the prior version of section 12-117 did enable courts to award fees for judicial review of administrative decisions, but did not enable agencies to award fees during administrative proceedings. Id. at 422-23, 210 P.3d at 530-31.
The County acknowledges that Smith controls here, but asserts that this Court should overrule Smith because the Legislature intended to expand the availability of attorney's fees, not bar fee awards in administrative appeals. It points to the legislative history of the 2010 amendment as evidence
Stare decisis requires this Court to follow controlling precedent unless it is manifestly wrong, proven to be unjust or unwise, or overruling it is necessary in light of obvious principles of law and justice. Grease Spot, Inc. v. Harnes, 148 Idaho 582, 585, 226 P.3d 524, 527 (2010). Interpreting a statute is an issue of law over which this Court exercises free review. State v. Doe, 147 Idaho 326, 327, 208 P.3d 730, 731 (2009). Although this Court strives foremost to give effect to the Legislature's intent, any statutory interpretation must begin by applying a provision's plain and ordinary meaning. Wheeler v. Idaho Dep't of Health & Welfare, 147 Idaho 257, 263, 207 P.3d 988, 994 (2009).
This Court's interpretation of section 12-117 was not manifestly wrong. As this Court explained in Smith, the plain language of that section enables the relevant adjudicative body to award fees only in administrative proceedings or in civil judicial proceedings. Administrative proceedings are, by definition, proceedings not before a court, while civil judicial proceedings are, by definition, proceedings in court commenced by a complaint. Smith, 150 Idaho at 391, 247 P.3d at 618. This case meets neither definition because it originated in court with a petition for judicial review. Id.
Further, there is no obvious principle of justice at stake here. The courts' very jurisdiction over administrative appeals is controlled by the Legislature, including the specific issue of when parties may receive attorney's fees. See Laughy v. Idaho Dep't of Transp., 149 Idaho 867, 870, 243 P.3d 1055, 1058 (2010); see also PHH Mortg. Servs. Corp. v. Perreira, 146 Idaho 631, 641, 200 P.3d 1180, 1190 (2009). Since Idaho follows the "American Rule" for attorney's fees, no fee awards are available absent contractual or statutory authority. Mortensen v. Stewart Title Guar. Co., 149 Idaho 437, 447-48, 235 P.3d 387, 397-98 (2010). Having allowed parties to bring petitions for judicial review in the first place, the Legislature could reasonably have intended to withhold fee awards in such cases. No fundamental principle of law requires attorney's fees in judicial review of administrative decisions, nor is there any basic injustice in requiring parties in such proceedings to pay their own attorneys. This Court must apply the plain and unambiguous language in the statute and adhere to its prior controlling precedent.
This Court affirms the judgment of the district court validating Anderson Creek Road because it became public by legislative declaration. Neither party is entitled to attorney's fees on appeal. Costs are awarded to the County.
Chief Justice BURDICK and Justices EISMANN, J. JONES and HORTON concur.
I.C. § 40-2312.