Skip navigation
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

Montana Newspaper Entitled to Fees Incurred to Obtain Copies of Documents

The Havre Daily News (newspaper), a Montana subchapter of a Washington corporation, sued the city of Havre, Montana in state court under Mont. Const. art. II § 9 to compel disclosure of an unredacted incident report. During litigation the city disclosed the unredacted report, and the trial court granted the city summary judgment. The newspaper appealed.

On appeal, the Supreme Court of Montana found that since the city disclosed the documents at issue, the disclosure issue was moot. The Court also found that the newspaper was entitled to fees incurred up to the time that the unredacted copies were disclosed. Thus, the Court remanded the case with instructions to dismiss with prejudice after an evidentiary nearing to determine the amount of fees to award the newspaper. See: Havre Daily News v. City of Havre, 333 Mont. 331; 142 P.3d 854 (2006).

As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

Related legal case

Havre Daily News v. City of Havre