Rule 1-071.3.Statutory stream system adjudication suits; annual joint working session
Last amended June 8, 2011 · Last verified June 26, 2026
Full Text of Rule 1-071.3
Rule History
[Provisionally approved by Supreme Court Order No. 07-8300-013 for one year, effective June 13, 2007; provisionally approved by Supreme Court Order 08-8300 for one additional year, effective June 9, 2008; provisionally approved by Supreme Court Order No. 09-8300-015, for one additional year, effective June 9, 2009; provisionally approved by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-020, for one additional year, effective June 8, 2010; approved by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-027, effective for new and pending cases on or after June 8, 2011.]
Committee Commentary
The annual joint working session is called to balance the demands of state and federal court adjudications with the personnel and financial resources available to the state engineer and the courts. While each adjudication court must manage its case to ensure expeditious resolution, case management plans must be realistic and based on current resource information. Each adjudication court must take care to monitor its case management to avoid unnecessarily undermining the progress in other pending adjudications.
Because of the prohibition against ex parte contacts between the state and the judiciary, and because other parties’ substantive and procedural rights might be impacted by decisions reached in the joint working session, such sessions are to be held only after notice of the date, time and place.
Plain-English Summary
This rule coordinates the many stream adjudications. Thirty days before each fiscal year ends, the judges, special masters, the state, and other parties in each stream adjudication court set a working session to discuss common issues and the resource needs of each court, and the state judges invite their federal counterparts to take part. Thirty days before the session, the state files a report setting out its suggested priorities and an analysis of the resources the courts and the state need for each pending adjudication.
As the committee commentary explains, the session balances the demands of state and federal adjudications against the limited resources of the state engineer and the courts, and—because of the ban on ex parte contacts—is held only after notice of the date, time, and place.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the annual joint working session in stream adjudications?
A yearly meeting of the courts, the state, and the parties—held before the fiscal year ends—to coordinate common issues and the resource needs of each adjudication court, after notice to all.