Montana Supreme Court: New law trumps eminent domain case

HELENA - In the latest development in the ongoing legal disputes over "eminent domain" power in Montana, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday said a district judge should decide how a new law affects a key case involving a Canadian power-line company and a Cut Bank-area property owner.

Writing for a 5-0 majority, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath said the new state law clarifying eminent-domain authority for the power-line company should be used to determine whether and how the company can condemn property along the line's route.

The Montana Legislature in April passed the law in response to the dispute between the company, Montana Alberta Tie Limited and landowner Shirley Salois.

Salois objected to the MATL line's route through historic Blackfeet tepee rings on her property just east of Cut Bank. MATL responded by moving to use eminent domain power to condemn the property.

A state district judge in Cut Bank ruled last year that state law didn't explicitly give MATL the power of eminent domain, which would allow it to condemn Salois' property along the power line route.

The law passed by the Legislature in House Bill 198 said companies like MATL do have the power of eminent domain. MATL is building a 215-mile high voltage power line from Great Falls to Lethbridge, Alberta.

On May 20, in response to HB198, a group of landowners north of Great Falls filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the new law. They asked District Judge Laurie McKinnon of Cut Bank - the same judge who ruled against MATL in the other case - to rule on the new law.

MATL then asked the Montana Supreme Court to take control of the case and rule on the law's constitutionality. The high court has not decided whether to take up the case.

Also on Tuesday, a spokesman for MATL said the company wrote a letter to the Saloises' attorney and the state, saying it wants to examine whether it could change the power line's route and resolve the issue without using it condemnation powers.

"As always, we look at eminent domain as a last course of action, and if we can get a reasonable solution with the Saloises, we're going to avoid eminent domain entirely," said Darryl James.

James said the company is pleased by Tuesday's ruling by the Supreme Court, because it acknowledges that the new law applies to MATL's power line.

Hertha Lund, a Bozeman attorney representing the Saloises, said she thinks the question of the law's constitutionality and how it affects condemnation of the property should both be decided by Judge McKinnon.

"The fact that the Supreme Court remanded (the case) back to the District Court is a victory for Salois and the other landowners," she said Tuesday.

Shirley's son, Larry Salois, said Tuesday that he'd simply like to have the power line re-routed so it does not cross the tepee rings, and that shifting the corridor to somewhere else on the property would be acceptable.