Benson v. State Eng’r

The State Engineer cancelled a water permit for failure to comply with its terms. Plaintiff filed a petition for judicial review in the district court under Nev. Rev. Stat. 533.395(2) seeking an order vacating the state Engineer’s decision to cancel the permit. The district court granted the State Engineer’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s petition because Plaintiff sought judicial review before exhausting her available administrative remedies. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) section 533.395(2) requires a party aggrieved by the cancellation of a water permit to exhaust all available administrative remedies before filing a petition for judicial review with the district court, even when the remedy that the State Engineer is authorized to provide is not the remedy that the party seeks; and (2) Plaintiff, therefore, should have filed a written request for the State Engineer to review its decision to cancel the water permit at a public hearing before she sought judicial remedies. View "Benson v. State Eng’r" on Justia Law