Boadle Road - 2003 -2010
June 2010 Hearing

Boadle Road - Supreme Court again

Adverse Ruling and Appeal

April 11, 2012

As readers and members are no doubt aware , the Boadle Road in Teton County has been an endless saga of the associated landowner losing round after round in the courts and defying court rulings. The latest deal was that he tore out a bridge on a public right of way. PLWA action to sue for punitive damages, and reconstruction of the offending bridge went to initial stages of trial on March 7, 2012.

However, in April of 2012, Judge Nels Swandal ruled that there was, in effect, no foul when Jones destroyed the bridge because the bridge was "personal property". PLWA strongly disagrees with this opinion . We do not see how any "improvement" permanently affixed to the surface of the earth could be deemed personal property, and what's more, how anyone could remove an improvement or bridge on a public right-of-way without the consent of the public - particularly when the Montana Supreme court had told him on two occasions to quit messing with the road and right-of-way.

For these reasons, on May 9th 2012, the decision was again appealed to the Montana Supreme court.

(For the complete history of this case refer to the articles in the HOT TOPICS and ISSUES sections of our website - www.plwa.org . )

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public land issues Madison County / Seyler Lane Bridge and Stream Access Go to Supreme Court Again Hearing scheduled for April 29th, 2013 As members are aware, PLWA has appealed an April ruling by Madison County District Judge Loren Tucker that limits stream access from bridges on roads with historic prescriptive easements. Tenderfoot Acquisition Advances Tenderfoot Acquisition AdvancesThis is truly one of the most significant public access actions by a government agency - working with private entities - of all time.     16 more public land issues