Special Masters

Mont. R. Civ. P. 53(e)(2) allows a district court to appoint a master in complicated cases to examine the matter and make a report thereupon. In non-jury actions, the trial court shall accept the master's findings of fact unless clearly erroneous. The burden of challenging the master's findings is on the party objecting; the related burden of establishing that a finding is clearly erroneous also is on the party objecting.  We apply the same standard of review to an adopted master's report that we do to any other district court order.  We review the findings of a court to determine if the court's findings are clearly erroneous, and we review a district court's conclusions of law to determine whether those conclusions are correct.  Maloney v. Home & Inv. Ctr., Inc., 2000 MT 34, ¶ 28, 298 Mont. 213, 994 P.2d 1124 (citations omitted).