Judge Stadler concludes years on the bench

Stewart Stadler did a lot of things before he settled into a career in the judicial system that would span some 28 years.

He was an aluminum plant worker, soldier, construction worker, attorney and a bar owner before becoming justice of the peace in 1985 for a 15-year run. Stadler became a Flathead District Court judge in 2000 and is retiring at the end of the year.

Born and raised in Butte, Stadler moved to Columbia Falls and took a job at the aluminum plant after graduating from high school. While working at the plant, he faced the military draft and instead chose to enlist.

Stadler completed basic training and served 14 months of duty as an infantryman in Vietnam. Upon his return he took a job working for a construction company in Tennessee. It was at that point that Stadler — who had already earned a bachelor’s degree in finance — decided to enroll in law school at the University of Montana.

“Law school just sort of came up as some more school to go to,” Stadler said. “And it’s one of the few courses that I took that seemed to have great relevance to life. In other words, you take business courses or a sociology course or something like that you don’t really put it to life, but law you do.”

He graduated from law school in 1973 and worked at a Kalispell law firm for two years.

IN 1975 Stadler’s career took a turn into business when he and a partner bought the Rainbow Bar. They owned the bar until 1985.

He continued a piecemeal law career while running the Rainbow, which he said brought him no end of clients.

“You find when you’re in the bar business and you’re a lawyer that you can get all the clients you need because they all come in at 2 o’clock in the morning and say, ‘I got this DUI, what can you do?’” Stadler said. “Or ‘How many times do I need to sleep with this girl ’til we’re common-law married?’ and all these wonderful questions.”

But the bar business eventually got old for Stadler, whose eye was caught by another opportunity — an open Flathead County justice of the peace seat being vacated by George “Al” Shay. In fact it was Shay who encouraged Stadler to run.

He did run, and was able to best a broad array of other candidates for the position. Stadler began serving Shay’s unfinished term in January 1985.

“It was a bit of a dilemma, because the [Associated Press] ran all over the state, ‘Bar owner appointed JP’ and it was kind of like the wolf put in charge of sheep,” Stadler said. “At least that was the tone of the article because we still owned it when I was appointed.”

He ended up selling the bar that fall.

Stadler had to run for re-election the following year and was successful then and each election following, holding the position for 15 years. Then, when the Montana Legislature OK’d a plan to create a third judge seat in Flathead County District Court, Stadler saw a new opportunity.

He was successful in his bid for the position, being appointed by then-Gov. Marc Racicot and sworn in on Jan. 4, 2000. David Ortley — later to become a District Court judge himself — was sworn in by Stadler as his first official act to complete his remaining two-year term as justice of the peace.

Stadler ran unopposed for re-election that November as well as in 2006.

NOW 69, Stadler reflected on the changes he has seen in the court over the years.

“In criminal court, what we’re seeing now is most of the trials involve sex crimes,” he said. “The others seem to resolve more often. And so many of the sex crimes include very small children and are very hard to get convictions on, so they get tried.”

Stadler also said he believes there has been an increase in crimes involving weapons because it’s more common for people to have weapons, regardless of what type of weapon.

In the arena of civil cases, Stadler said the last five years have seen an explosion in the number of debt-collection cases and contested foreclosures.

“People are saying the banks are at fault for giving them money,” he said. “The predatory loan type of defense. Mainly it seems to be just to forestall or prevent or delay the inevitable or to force somebody to do something different — renegotiate the loan or whatever.”

Stadler said the lists of foreclosures continues to be at a high level “which is pretty amazing for a valley this size.”

A change Stadler said he would like to see would be the creation of a family law court geared more toward mediation than formal court. He estimates that family-law cases take up 60 percent of the District Court’s total caseload, and he believes a mediation-based court could streamline the cases and help them move more quickly and foster more effective outcomes.

But with roughly 28 years on the bench between Justice Court and District Court, Stadler is now ready to step away and enjoy retirement.

“I’m going to be 70 in October. It’s time,” Stadler said. “I’ll continue living here, I love it here. I’ll just have more time to do the kind of things I want to do. I have a little cabin in the Swan, I like to hunt and fish, I like to ski, I like to hike. Just all the things the valley has to offer.”

Stewart will be replaced by Kalispell Municipal Judge Heidi Ulbricht, who defeated local attorney Vanessa Ceravolo for the seat in the general election.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.