Judge rejects Carlyle motion to be dropped from Mountain Water case
“Missoula County District Court Judge Karen Townsend on Thursday denied the Carlyle Group’s motion to be dismissed from the eminent domain case filed by the city of Missoula.
In her order, she cited Carlyle’s “legal arguments with scant support” and its “contradictory assertions.” She also noted the Montana Supreme Court requires district courts to evaluate motions to dismiss “in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and should not dismiss … unless it appears the plaintiff is not entitled to relief under any set of facts.”
The city of Missoula had named both Mountain Water Co. and Carlyle as defendants in the condemnation case, but Carlyle had argued it is not a property owner on record and should not be named in the court proceeding. The judge disagreed.
“The Court finds that Carlyle Infrastructure’s arguments fail because they require this Court to disregard allegations … resolve a factual dispute regarding what appears to be a complex corporate ownership structure … and adopt novel and creative legal arguments with scant support,” the judge wrote in the order.”
Szpaller, Keila. Missoulian 4 July 2014.