Trial delayed in lawsuit over highway

Attorneys in the battle between KGEZ radio station owner/announcer John Stokes and the Montana Department of Transportation got more instructions from the court Wednesday rather than the expected trial date.

"You're making it impossible for me to do what I was going to do, which is give you a trial date," Flathead District Court Judge Kitty Curtis told the attorneys.

She needs more information from both sides before she can rule on part of the case and set a trial date for the rest of the lawsuit.

The lawyers should have given her various documents earlier, she said.

In April, Curtis told the attorneys she expected to go to trial this summer. But now the trial likely won't commence before September, she said.

At issue is how much the state owes Stokes for the land it acquired for widening U.S. 93 South, the alleged damages done to the radio station already, and what will be done in the future.

Stokes contends the state owes him for all three, especially the future damages because a study he commissioned found that in 14 years the station will be inoperable in its current location.

He has previously claimed the state owes him $4.7 million.

The state agrees it owes Stokes for the land - but not for present damage or any future circumstances.

The state's proof is in the broadcasting, Montana Department of Transportation attorney Jim Lewis told Curtis. Stokes broadcast during construction and continues to so, hence his claim for damages isn't valid, Lewis said.

But Stokes already has damaged equipment and must operate in a "patchwork" manner, his attorney Wade Dahood said.

An acoustics expert hired by Stokes examined the station and compared it to state traffic projections. He says by 2019 the predicted traffic will produce too much noise and vibration for the station to operate, Dahood said.

Lewis has asked Curtis to rule that Stokes' claim for current and future damages is invalid and to take to trial only the issue of how much the state owes him for the land.

Curtis told the attorneys to give her documents, such as a deposition from Stokes that was taken in April, necessary for her to make a ruling. After that she will set a trial date for whatever issues she decides will go to trial.

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@daily-interlake.com