Supreme Court: City must pay $344K in South Avenue right-of-way case
“The city of Missoula must pay $344,469 in damages, attorney fees and other costs in a lawsuit filed by South Avenue landowners who alleged the city took property without paying for it.
“We’re not going to increase taxes in order to cover this. What we’ve done is made certain we’ve had enough budget savings accrued and allocated to this,” city administrative officer Bruce Bender said Monday.
In a recent order, the Montana Supreme Court ruled the city must pay the attorney fees the plaintiffs incurred during the appeal. It affirmed the District Court’s award of $33,406.11 in lawyer fees and $1,697.37 in related costs.
“Here, the landowners ‘prevailed’ by recovering an amount in excess of that offered by the city of Missoula, which had offered them nothing when taking their property,” reads the court order. “It is this recovery that triggered the right to recover expenses of litigation including attorney fees and costs.”
Thomas Orr, attorney for 17 plaintiffs including Glen and Johanna Wohl, said the bill grew another $7,000 in defending the city’s appeal. Bender said the city of Missoula will not appeal those costs, and it soon plans to pay the entire amount, including damages of $157,000.”
Szpaller, Keilia. The Missoulian 9 December 2014.