Utah Code 73-4-4. Summons for general adjudication of water rights — Requirements to serve summons individually and generally — Statement of claim requirement
Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
(a)
The state engineer shall, by mail, serve a summons to a claimant of record in the state engineer’s office within a general adjudication area, division, or subdivision.
(b)
(i)
The state engineer may serve, by publication, a general summons to claimants in a general adjudication area, division, or subdivision, who are not of record in the state engineer’s office, if the state engineer files an affidavit with the district court, verifying that the state engineer has, in accordance with Section 73-4-3, searched the records of the state engineer’s office for claimants in the general adjudication area, division, or subdivision.
(ii)
The state engineer shall publish, in accordance with the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, a general summons described in Subsection (1)(b)(i):
(A)
once a week for five successive weeks in one or more newspapers, determined by the judge of the district court as most likely to give notice to the claimants served; and
(B)
for five weeks, in accordance with Section 45-1-101.
(iii)
Service of a general summons is completed upon the last required date of publication.
(c)
The summons shall be substantially in the following form: “In the District Court of ………. County, State of Utah, in the matter of the general adjudication of water rights in the described water source.
