Judge delays Blixseth court appearance

BILLINGS — A Montana judge has delayed a court appearance meant for real-estate developer Tim Blixseth to explain why he did not comply with an order to pay $13.8 million to creditors in a bankruptcy case.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon said Monday he was vacating the March 21 hearing in Butte after Blixseth appealed the payment order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Haddon found Blixseth in contempt in December after the Washington state resident sold a luxury property in Mexico in defiance of another judge’s instructions.

Blixseth is blamed in the 2008 bankruptcy of the Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort near Big Sky.

He’s been trying to fend off the club’s creditors, who want him incarcerated for not abiding the payment order.