State Supreme Court upholds Bad Rock fire hall ruling

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Bad Rock Fire Department in a lawsuit whereby a rural Columbia Falls attorney claimed she owned the property the department’s south hall sits on.

Attorney Mickale Carter and her husband, Eugene Kirschbaum, sued the fire district in July 2020, claiming her mother, Thelma Carter, didn’t get the proper legal permissions from all the heirs to the Carter estate when Thelma donated 1.3 acres to the Bad Rock Fire District in 1993.

Mickale Carter claims when her mother signed over the property to the district some 28 years ago, she “had not been given authority from all seven owners, the Carter siblings, to transfer title.”

Carter, 28 years later, disputed that she approved the donation and that she now owned the property.

But in May, Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison ruled against Carter, noting she had five years initially to contest the land transfer in court, but didn’t do so.

In short, the statute of limitations had run out on the case, he said.

Carter and Kirschbaum, in turn, appealed Allison’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court.

But the high court on Nov. 2 found in favor of the fire department as well, upholding the lower court ruling. The higher court also found that Carter and Kirschbaum should have filed claims to the property long ago, but did nothing.

“Because Mickale did not pursue her claim with diligence and Bad Rock was prejudiced by the extreme delay, the District Court correctly applied laches to bar Mickale and Eugene’s claim to void Bad Rock’s title to the property by quieting title in their favor in this case,” the justices found in a 15-page ruling.

The Supreme Court also found the fire department acted in good faith when it accepted the donation back in 1993 and built a fire hall there.

“Bad Rock simply received a donation of land — one which had been in the works for almost a year by the time of the transfer — and there was no fraud or dishonesty in its acceptance of the donation. While there were, as the District Court stated, some 'technical difficulties' with the warranty deed, Bad Rock did not take advantage of its own wrong by not doing more to clarify the status of title.”

The couple, it is important to note, owns about 80 acres of land behind the fire hall to the east.

If it had gained title to the property, that would allow easy access to the parcel which is just off Middle Road.

Carter initially tried to settle with the department for an easement to the 80 acres by building a driveway to the north of the hall. But the drive, the department noted, would have gone right over the septic system and stymied any future expansion.

If Carter had prevailed in the suit, the department could also have encountered millions in expenses in order to find a plot of land and move or build another building. Also, homeowners five or more miles away from the main hall would have seen their insurance rates jump, or possibly been uninsurable entirely, the fire department maintained in court documents.

The Flathead County Attorney’s office represented the fire department in the case.

“While we are thrilled with the outcome of this litigation, we don’t want this to overshadow our gratitude for the gracious gift made by the Carter family 28 years ago for land where the south fire hall was built by the Bad Rock Volunteer Fire Department on Middle Road,” Bad Rock Chief Kirk Katzenmeyer said.