Six apply for District Court judge opening
Six candidates submitted applications for the open Flathead County District Court judge position before the deadline passed on Wednesday.
Richard Patrick DeJana, James Henry Cossitt, Amy Poehling Eddy, Kay Lynn Lee, John R. Quatman and Daniel Richard Wilson will be considered for the judge job.
The chosen applicant will succeed Ted O. Lympus, who has been on the bench for 23 years. He announced his retirement in July and will step down at the end of this month.
DeJana is a private attorney handling property litigation and transactions in Kalispell. He has managed a law firm since 1984.
A graduate of the University of Montana School of Law, DeJana is a past president of the Northwest Montana Bar Association and is currently on its executive committee. He has also served on the Flathead County Subdivision Committee and is a former treasurer for the Montana Democratic Party.
“Judges should not have egos or agendas,” DeJana wrote in his application. “They should be scholars of the law. They thus must be humble and intellectual.”
Cossitt has been in private practice since the mid-1980s and has run his current private practice in Kalispell since 1999. He largely handles bankruptcy and debt cases. He received his law degree from the University of Iowa School of Law.
He has been a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees since 1989 and a former director and president of the Story County [Iowa] Legal Aid Society.
Cossitt also serves on the city of Kalispell’s Impact Fee Committee.
“I am concerned about the quality and timeliness of justice in Flathead County and will use my background, depth and experience to ensure that the citizens receive fair, impartial and reasonably prompt justice,” he wrote in his application.
Lee is a private attorney with Henning, Keedy & Lee in Kalispell. She specializes mostly in family law and has been an associate at various firms since 1988.
She received her law degree from the University of San Diego. Lee is a member and committee chair for the Northwest Montana Bar Association and a former member of the Glacier Symphony and Chorale board. She served on the latter for seven years.
“I believe the most important quality is making a reasonable decision in a timely manner; justice delayed is justice denied,” she wrote. “I also believe that if you make a decision, you may be wrong some of the time, but if you don’t you will be wrong all of the time.”
Quatman is a Whitefish attorney who has co-managed a practice since 1998. While handling some civil cases, he listed the most criminal case experience among the six applicants.
Quatman formerly worked as a senior trial deputy district attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in Oakland, California.
He is a former vice president of the Northwest Montana Bar Association and is a current member of various organizations in Whitefish. They include the Whitefish Rotary and Lions as well as the Montana Civil Air Patrol.
In his application, Quatman stressed his public-sector work in California.
“With my experience I will not need a learning period; a get-up-to-speed time; a close-down-the-practice time period,” he wrote. “I can and have handled virtually any type of case that would come before me.”
The other two applicants, Eddy and Wilson, were reviewed in a previous Daily Inter Lake article.
Eddy owns a private practice in Kalispell. She has handled mostly civil cases in her career.
Wilson is a current Flathead County justice of the peace. He has held that position since 2011, and before that worked in private practice and as a deputy county attorney.
The Montana Supreme Court’s Judicial Nomination Commission will interview the candidates.
The commission also is taking public comments on the applicants through Sept. 12. Those can be made through www.courts.mt.gov.
An interview process will follow and Gov. Steve Bullock will ultimately appoint a successor to Lympus by Nov. 7.
Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.