KGEZ transfer appealed

Former Kalispell radio station owner John Stokes has filed an appeal challenging a settlement that transferred KGEZ radio station assets to Todd and Davar Gardner in July.

The appeal filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Tuesday asserts that a federal bankruptcy court erred on several levels when it approved the settlement on July 22.

The settlement allowed the Gardners, owners of a recreational vehicle dealership and auction house in Kalispell, to pay $875,000 for the KGEZ property, its nearby broadcast towers and the radio station license.

The Gardners won a lawsuit in 2008 that awarded them a $3.8 million judgment for being defamed on the air by Stokes.

They stress that they got a judgment but no money from that court win.

The Gardners agreed to reduce the settlement to $1.5 million and to purchase the radio station assets for $875,000.

About $787,000 of that will be distributed by a bankruptcy trustee to a series of secured Stokes creditors called the Boone Karlberg group. The balance will pay for the bankruptcy proceedings.

Todd Gardner said there several parties interested in buying the radio station assets, including the license, and a deal could unfold soon.

The appeal filed by Stokes this week contends that the settlement was a result of “insider negotiations” between the bankruptcy trustee and the creditors, and it was negotiated in a manner that devalued the estate.

The lawsuit also contends that the settlement lacked “an accurate appraisal” of the KGEZ property to the detriment of Stokes’ creditors and his estate.

The settlement leaves Stokes “with substantial obligations that a fair market value sale of the license and property of KGEZ would have erased, to the detriment of (Stokes) and his estate,” the appeal brief states.

The appeal also challenges a bankruptcy court ruling that denied Stokes the ability to appeal the judgment for the Gardners to the Montana Supreme Court.

KGEZ and Stokes went off the air in September 2009 when officials seized Stokes’ assets and locked up the radio station as the result of a bankruptcy ruling.

Stokes owned KGEZ since 2000 and hosted a sometimes-controversial daily talk show. He also was known over the years for stunts such as burning green swastikas (emblematic of environmentalists) and hosting events such as shooting at United Nations flags.