Judge dismisses Larson's lawsuit

MISSOULA – District Court Judge Leslie Halligan threw out Don Larson’s lawsuit against the Seeley Lake Sewer District on May 21.

The order came in response to a motion by the District’s attorney Jon Beal seeking to dismiss the case due to the plaintiffs providing inadequate responses to discovery and missing multiple deadlines.

Beal successfully argued that the plaintiffs’ actions or lack thereof were abusive and a bad-faith litigation tactic that prolonged the lawsuit to a severe disadvantage to the District. The District has repeatedly stated that the delay in the proposed sewer project was costing a significant amount of money and risking the loss of grant funding.

Larson filed the original complaint in June of 2018 against the District and Missoula County and was joined by more than 50 landowners and residents as plaintiffs in an amended complaint filed in August of 2018.

In November of 2019, Halligan released Missoula County from the lawsuit, dismissed two parts of the lawsuit and laid the burden of proof on the plaintiffs. At the time Halligan wrote that what the plaintiffs needed to show was “a clear timeline of events with citations to the laws that plaintiffs allege were violated by the District.”

In the Order dismissing the case, the Court found that the plaintiffs not only were late in responding to the District’s discovery request but failed to identify the laws they claimed were violated.

Halligan felt that the lack of substance “practically precludes the District from mounting a defense” because the District does not know what it is supposed to respond to.

While Halligan dismissed the case, she did not do it with prejudice as requested by the District. By dismissing the case without prejudice Halligan leaves the door open for the lawsuit to be refiled but wrote that “any such new filing may be contested under a number of legal doctrines and be subject to a surety bond requirement.”

The Order dismissing the lawsuit did not address who would be responsible for paying the District’s attorney fees.