District granted extension for lawsuit response

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board has been granted an extension to respond to a lawsuit filed by a group of landowners. The lawsuit seeks to force the District to follow through with previously adopted resolutions to construct the proposed sewer, mandate connections and also to reimburse the plaintiffs’ legal fees.

The lawsuit filed Dec. 15 and served a few days later gave the District three weeks to respond before the plaintiffs could request an entry of default judgment against the District for the relief demanded in the complaint.

The Board held a special meeting on Dec. 31 to discuss their options but had little information to go on including whether or not their insurance would cover the cost of defending the District. The District’s General Counsel Aaron Neilson was also not able to attend the meeting.

The Board authorized President Tom Morris to discuss the case with Neilson and other attorneys to find some options for them to consider at another special meeting Jan. 5.

At the second special meeting, the insurance company still hadn’t informed them if the District would be covered but Neilson was present to answer questions.

Ahead of closing the meeting to the public to discuss litigation strategy, Board Vice President Beth Hutchinson asked for clarification on why there were “John Does” listed in the lawsuit as both plaintiffs and defendants.

Neilson explained that typically John and Jane Does are used in place of potential parties to the lawsuit. This allows for more plaintiffs to be added if there are more people who want to join the lawsuit and allows for more defendants to be added that might be responsible for carrying out the action the lawsuit demands.

According to Neilson, the inclusion of John Does as plaintiffs does not mean there are anonymous plaintiffs because, unless there is a privacy concern, plaintiffs need to be named. Neilson couldn’t think of any reason why there would be privacy issues with this case.

After the Board came out of executive session, Morris said that they would be asking the plaintiffs’ attorney and the court for an extension to respond to the lawsuit mostly due to the fact that their insurance had yet to provide them with an answer. The delay in the insurance company’s decision was also partly due to people being out of the office for the holidays.

To request the extension, the Board hired attorney Jean Faure out of Great Falls, Montana.

The day after the meeting, Manager Jean Curtiss informed the Pathfinder that their insurance had accepted the case and would defend the District.

On Jan. 8, the District filed for an extension from the court, which was promptly signed by Judge Leslie Halligan. The extension gives the District until Jan. 25 to respond.