Bonham v. Morgan

In Bonham v. Morgan, 788 P.2d 497 (Utah 1989), the Court reversed a trial court's determination that the plaintiffs lacked standing to seek judicial review of the state engineer's decision approving a change application. Id. at 502. In that case, however, there was no question that the protesting plaintiffs could demonstrate particularized injury inasmuch as the defendants' water use caused flooding on the plaintiffs' property. Id. at 498. Rather, the question before the court was whether the injured plaintiffs, who were not holders of water rights, were nevertheless "aggrieved persons" entitled to judicial review of the state engineer's decision. The Court held that the plaintiffs did not need to be holders of water rights in order to be "aggrieved" within the meaning of Utah Code section 73-3-14. Id. at 502.