Montana Code 82-11-144. Court review
82-11-144. Court review. Any interested person adversely affected by any provision of this chapter or by any rule or order adopted by the board hereunder or by any act done or threatened thereunder may obtain court review and seek relief by a suit for an injunction against the board as defendant, which suit may be instituted in the district court of the county where the board keeps its principal office or in the district court of any county wherein the land involved or any part thereof is situated. The term “interested person”, as used herein, shall be interpreted broadly and liberally, especially where the suit involves the right to drill a well or involves some other act which clearly affects the plaintiff even though the effect is indirect. If the act complained of involves a general order for a pool or the right to drill a well therein, a person who owns or has an interest in a well in the pool, which well is capable of producing oil or gas, shall be considered to be prima facie an interested person. The suit shall be given a preferential setting and shall be tried de novo and disposed of as an ordinary civil suit and not upon the record of any hearing before the board. The statute, rule, order, or decision involved in the suit shall be prima facie valid; however, the finding of fact, actual or presumed, made by the board in support of the rule, order, or decision involved in the suit is not binding on the court though supported by evidence introduced at a hearing before the board. The court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of any board action. The court shall:
Terms Used In Montana Code 82-11-144
- Board: means the board of oil and gas conservation provided for in 2-15-3303. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Gas: means all natural gases and all other fluid hydrocarbons, including methane gas or any other natural gas found in any coal formation, as produced at the wellhead and not defined as oil in subsection (3). See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir. See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Person: means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind and includes any agency or instrumentality of the state or any governmental subdivision of the state. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Pool: means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil or gas or both; each zone of a structure which is completely separated from any other zone in the same structure is a pool, as that term is used in this chapter. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
(1)compel board action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed;
(2)hold unlawful and set aside board action, findings, and conclusions found to be:
(a)arbitrary, unreasonable, capricious, and abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law;
(b)contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity;
(c)in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations or short of statutory right;
(d)without observance of procedure required by law; or
(e)unwarranted by the facts; and
(3)consider all the evidence, pass on the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony, and resolve such fact issues as may be necessary for decision in the case.